sore thumb

This morning I spent a wonderful time in my itty bitty kitchen with my little girls. We (I) made 2 pumpkin pies while they snacked on popcorn and cracker sticks. It's not often that I find cooking with 2 little ones underfoot wonderful. But this morning before tackling the job I had pryed for strength, patience and for an understanding that my job is one of the most precious ever. I also knew I had pretty much all day to get 2 pies made so there was no time pressure. This year I already feel in the Christmas spirit. There have been plenty of times in my life (adult life) that I didn't "feel" it. I was glad for it but I didn't have that cozy, let's make cookies and crafts, then snuggle on the floor under a blanket and watch It's a Wonderful Life feeling. Today is Thanksgiving. We'll celebrate it with turkey and all the trimmings tomorrow. I'm thankful for: Having all the spices I need for making multiple pumpkin pies. An oven that fits a 12 l...

Phil is coming home today! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This morning I canceled a doctor's appointment (who needs immunizations anyway?) so that Mom and I could take full advantage of the nanny and could enjoy a morning at IKEA. Mom's flying out tonight and we won't have another chance to just hang out the 2 of us before they fly to the States for the holidays. Our first stop was at the IKEA restaurant for coffee and a danish. The store was pretty empty so it was really nice just wondering around. Mom bought Maddie's bday gift - a wooden baby bed for her favorite doll. Then we finished it off with a hotdog and flat coke. The weather it typical here today. Rainy and cool. Both girls are snoozing and since I had 2 cups of coffee, I am not.

I do not think being 32 years old is old but since October 11th, I have had problems with my eyesight, fallen off a stool and hurt that area of your body that has lots of extra cushion and that you use every day to sit on, and gotten a really bad cold that I just can't shake. So it does seem like all of a sudden my body is realizing it's been around for 32 years +. Mom has been here for the past few days which is a HUGE blessing because I've been sick and Phil is out of town. He and Dad went on a trip together. Mom does the dishes, makes potato soup, reads tons and tons of books to the girls, takes them outside and makes sure I'm resting. Pretty much a perfect mom. Phil and I reading a book called, "How to Really Love Your Child". It's good. I recommend it, even if you think you already are really loving your child. It doesn't make me feel like a bad, unloving parent, it just helps me(us) learn ways to show the girls that we love them unconditio...

We got home from a trip to Wuhan last night. Phil and I had some meetings to attend. This morning we all slept until 8am. Wow. Well, to clarify, Madeleine and I both slept till 8, the other 2 are still asleep. I've decided that Saturday mornings can be "cartoon" mornings for Maddie. We don't have cartoons that she can watch on Chinese TV so she can watch multiple episodes of Dora, Blue's Clues or something like that. I wish we had cartoons . That would be fun. This morning is gray and a tiny bit cool. I'd love it to be totally fall like but we're not there yet. Lots of folks are already wearing long sleeves - mostly the elderly - and so we must have had cool weather while we were away. Once cold weather comes, even just for a couple days, the elderly and kids are often seen in long sleeves until fall and winter are completely over - meaning until around May 1st. I'm trying to figure out a schedule for the nanny that we've met. She's...

May 1st was my last post. I don't remember for sure when blogger got blocked but it must have been sometime in May. It's still blocked but God bless the men and women who create proxy sites. However, it usually doesn't take long for good proxy sites - like the one I'm using to post right now- to get blocked. Then you have to take the time to search for other proxies and use them until they are blocked. Beat the system, baby. So this Sat morning I'm on my lovely porch. It's off of our bedroom and looks down in to the garden of our complex. Our new complex is nothing like the old one in Xi'an but it is still nice and since we're on the 4 th fl I have lots of green to look at plus some old buildings with character. If you know much about this country you'll know that they aren't much in to restoring and keeping up the old stuff. It usually gets torn down and replaced with tile covered high rises or shiny new office buildings. So when you ...

That's not Chinese in my title just a little happy song bopping through my head as I think about being done with language school. Yesterday was it.  The last day.  No more schedules to figure out every semester.  No more wondering which teacher I'll get.  No more.   Formal study may be over but learning Chinese is not.  This morning for some odd reason I thought about something catching on fire and I thought, 'I don't remember how to say that in Chinese'.  So, after 2 years of study I'd have to call the fire department and say something like, 'Fire is on my room.  I mean, fire is in my house.  Do you understand?'. I took 2 test on Wednesday.  I have to say that I am very proud of my Chinese character recognition in The Book.  There were a few passages that I had to read where I knew every single character and didn't even hesitate while reading.  I don't think I can describe how amazing that feels.  I LOVE reading the passage in John when Jesus a...

This is perfect.  My husband and eldest daughter are asleep in the living room with an F1 race on. My baby is asleep in her room.  I've had time to sort through my entire wardrobe and pull out the stuff I never wear.  I just finished looking up recipes for Yorkshire pudding, roast beef and pie crust.  I've had a cup of tea.  Plus I had a nap earlier. For some reason my mother-in-law's pie crust recipe sometimes works well and sometimes makes me want to throw the messy, crumbly dough out our 8t h floor window.  So, I've decided that I will find the perfect crust.  It's going to take a lot of sacrifice on our part as we eat my attempts. Some Canadian friends ate Yorkshire pudding at their Easter meal.  It was the one dish my friend mentioned when I asked how their lunch went (I knew they were having a BIG group over).  So, I figured it must be pretty great.  I'm going to try it.  From what I've read I think it should be called Yorkshire bread. Yorkshire pud...

*Disclaimer* - The following may not be amazing at all. Lilian can blow her nose.  Hold a tissue to her nose, say "blow" and she blows her nose.  She's 10 months old.  I'm sorry, but that is amazing. Lilian answers questions by shaking her head "yes" or "no".  For example, "Do you want more to drink?"  followed by her head shaking "no". Lilian knows exactly what she is not allowed to touch.  As she approaches the forbidden object she starts shaking her head "no". She waves goodbye and hello. She puts objects to her ear, pretends it's a cell phone and says, "hi." Phil once heard her say, "All done!" Madeleine can tell you the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead.  She knew it after hearing it one time.  She can also tell you about Jesus' ressurection but Lazarus sometimes ends up in there too. She is 3 years old and 5 months. She gets up every morning around 5:30am, goes to the bathroo...

This morning feels so fresh.  Apparently, we had rain last night and the air is cool and clean now. I would love to be on a farm doing the morning chores and then coming in to a big country style breakfast.  With biscuits and gravy, of course.   I have two never wavering dreams for my life - one, have a small farm with goats, chickens, sheep and a dairy cow or two. Two - buy a house on a lake (ideally in the NE or NW of the US) that is used several times a year for family gatherings.  I want us to be the great, great, great grandparents that the house was originally bought by and has been in the family forever.   There were lots of people out this morning exercising .  One lady was doing the breaststroke as she walked.  I can never get the video going quick enough to catch these precious moments of inhibition .   Exercise is one thing our neighbors do really well.  I watched a lady in her late 50s early 60s doing kicks and bends the other day that I haven't been able to do sin...

I have a new found happiness.  It's odd.  I have discovered how great Saturday mornings are for having friends over for breakfast.  It is actually the perfect time and day to entertain.   Over the last 2 months we have either had friends over or been to a friend's house 3 times for a weekend breakfast.  So, I'm really quite experienced on the whole weekend morning entertaining. It's perfect because most people are in a good mood on Saturday mornings.  You're pretty rested. It's not like when you have friends over for dinner and you're already tired from the day but you still need to straighten the house, nurse the baby and make dinner.  Breakfast is a simple straight forward meal.  Children are rested and ready to eat and play. Because the children are rested and then full, they are happy to play with their little friends and the adults have time to drink a second cup of coffee and chat around the table.  No one feels rushed to get the kids home and bathed a...

This past Friday, 6 days after arriving home from Thailand, we finally had a sunny day.  Thank goodness because otherwise I was about to pack up the family and head south.  It is amazing how sunshine can affect our moods. Lilian is 8 months old.  She was extremely busy in Thailand.  She began crawling the day after we arrived.  Within just a couple days of her crawling her first pearly white started poking through. Then 2 days later another started pushing through.  Her hair had a growth spurt and it all grew straight up.  Her funky hair was the delight of many. Madeleine has said a couple really fun things lately.  1 - "Why does Lilian have that on her forehead?" (a red, speckled birthmark in the middle of her forehead)  "Did she fall out of you?" --2 - " Shhhh , I hear snowing, I think" (said on a particularly cold evening while playing outside). Getting back home after vacation seems to be difficult no matter who you are or where you live. I don't ...

I took advantage of feeling sick today to undecorate our home.  Sick enough to skip school but well enough to get some things done in the house.  It's hard to make understandable Mandarin come out of my mouth when my head is pounding and my stomach turning. When I was younger I always felt very sad when the tree came down and we didn't have little lights glimmering in our living room.  But now, I feel happy that it's done and I have my living room floor space back.  Ah, the reality of getting older.  I think it helps that I did it on NY's Eve so that I have tonight and the new year to be excited about. Here are a few things that stick out about 2008. -Lilian Pearl, possibly the sweetest baby on planet Earth -Moving across town because of toxic fumes in the old place -Finding and decorating an apartment that we LOVE.  We may have the largest kitchen in all of China. -Living in Beijing for 6 weeks -Becoming such great friends with Natasha Tompkins -Living in Chengdu for...

If you have ever lived or passed through eastern PA you may have experienced an unspeakable joy in the form of the gas/ convenience store, " Wawa ".  Because of Wawa , I L-O-V-E hazelnut coffee.  Yesterday, a package came from our good friends in northern OH.  Among other wonderful things, was a coffee can of hazelnut flavored coffee.  happy sighhhhhh .  My house smells amazing this morning.  It's a combination of coffee, fresh baked bread and apple butter simmering in the crock pot. If hazelnut coffee wasn't enough to rejoice about, I also finished the 5 th and final book of our Chinese textbooks yesterday.   Yippeeeee !!!  With the birth of Lilian, going to Chengdu and studying this particular book only 4 hours a week, it has taken a very long time to get through Book 5.  So, I couldn't stop smiling yesterday as we finished up the lesson.  I proudly announced to the school office that I was finished and there was much rejoicing among us.  It is a very good fe...

I don't know how many kids I want.  I know how many kids Phil would like, 2.  Immediately, after giving birth to Lilian I looked up at Phil and said, "I don't want any more kids.  I don't want to do this again.  Two is enough."  I have not forgotten what caused me to passionately speak those words to Phil.  But, when I hold my sweet little girl I have this nagging thought that I don't want this to be the last little baby I cuddle with.   So here is what I think about to try to decide: Traveling...5 people boarding a plane, packing for 5, finding lodging for 5, feeding 5 while on vacation.  We travel a lot so this is something that really is good to consider.  Of course, the main time this will be a hassle is when 3 of the 5 are still young and need a lot of assistance from the 2 that are adults. Sleeping...where does a third sleep?  Is it possible to get 3 kids to nap at the same time?  Both of my girls sleep through the night well almost every night , do I wa...

December first saw our lovely tree ascend in the living room.  December second it became adorned with little lights and lovingly made, given or bought ornaments.  Today we're enjoying it.   Madeleine helped decorated.  We have one branch that is very well decorated and then I helped her space the others out a bit.  She was really sweet looking at the ornaments and getting excited about them.  It's nice that Phil and I have collected ornaments over the years and we even have several from his childhood.  So many of them have special meaning for us.  I remember how much fun it was for me to go through the ornaments when I was little.  So we made sure to let Madeleine enjoy the process even though it meant one fragile little sled got broken.  Thankfully, we had several. Lilian was less than thrilled this morning when she saw the tree in all it's glory.  She did roll underneath it, tried to grab a branch and sucked on a stocking for awhile.  

Our heat did indeed come on on Saturday but it just got really crankin ' yesterday (Tues).  I'm not sure what the temp is inside but it's nice and toasty.  We opened the window in our bedroom last night and turned down the radiator.  I love a cold bedroom for sleeping.  Outside it's in the low 40s in the morning and just around 50 during the day.  We've had nice sunny weather for the last few days and it really looks and feels so wintery .  I love it.   Madeleine has really gotten into leaves.   Phil has taught her how to recognize the tree by it's leaves.  It's so cute as she walks down the sidewalk and says, "Look, a Ginkgo leaf!"  Yesterday he gave her a piece of evergreen.  She smelled it and said, "Smells like Christmas."  Neither of us intentionally taught her that but she's so right. Phil and I are meeting for an Indian lunch later today.   Yippeeeeeee !  It's been so long and I just can't wait.  Xi'an doesn't...

Having time to read, pry and drink coffee before the girls wake. Coffee with whipping cream. Looking out my kitchen window.   Watching Lilian's face as she watches Madeleine. Hearing Phil's voice when he talks to Lilian. Knowing Madeleine has sweet, funny friends. Starbucks on a cold day. Getting enough sleep. Crock pots . A couple days ago Phil was making a cup of tea.  Madeleine really likes tea and especially enjoys Peppermint Tea.  Madeleine, "Papa, is that Peppermint Tea?"  Phil, "No, it's Iron Buddha." Maddie, "Why it iron booty?" Yesterday was a really nice day for me.  Wednesday are my day off from school.  It's a great day to be off because Yali is here to help with the girls and it's mid-week.  I had already decided that I would use the morning to hang out by myself at Starbucks.  We have one very close to us.  I took my textbook and some other books that I just wanted to read.  I drank a latte, munched on a chocolate pastry ...

Still have beautiful fall leaves on our trees despite the valiant effort of some cleaning ladies.  3 of them stood around one of our trees the other afternoon beating it with a long bamboo pole and shaking it violently to get all the changing leaves off.  It made me furious.  I thought, "That is one of my trees that I look at from my window.  Now stop hurting it and my lovely autumn view." Thankfully, they left it alone and we have still have lovely autumn covered sidewalks to stroll along these days. I woke to clear, blue skies which made me want to get outdoors as soon as possible.  It didn't take long for Maddie and I to get it all together for a vigorous walk.  I pushed her and she commented on the trees, the cars and the smells.  "I smell something. (sniff, sniff)  Smells like bad."  Car exhaust was our fresh-morning smell.  I must be acculturating , since it only bothered me a bit. We walked towards the mountains that sit at the southern side of our city....

My clearest Halloween memory is from when I was about 4 years old.  I dressed as a cheerleader and went around with my sister and cousin, Van, door-to-door in Morehead, Kentucky.  Now, I know that I trick-or-treated for years and years but something about that particular time was special to me. I've wondered before what Maddie's first memory will be.  It may be that monkey jumping on her stroller in Malaysia.  She often talks about it.  Or riding an elephant in Thailand. This was M's first year to celebrate Halloween.  She dressed as a princess in pink tennis shoes. She made her own treat bag from a Starbuck's paperbag covered in brown paper and she put fancy tape all over it.  We went to the Tompkins for supper and then an adult (we had 6 that night) stood behind a closed door in their house and Natasha took the kids from door to door.   They knocked on the door, said "Trick-or-Treat!" and then we all had candy to give them.  You should have seen the huge smi...

From my kitchen window I can look down on the treetops and see leaves gradually changing from green to red, green to yellow and green to burnt orange.  This is the first autumn I have actually noticed here in China.  It must be because this is the first time I've lived in a place with a great view and that view includes lots of trees.  How lovely. In Georgia we had an annual apple pickin' day around this time.  My folks and family would drive up to the foothills of North GA and we'd spend a morning in the orchard.  There were fried apple pies and cider to be bought and eaten.  The sky would be that brilliant blue that I always loves so much around the Toccoa area.   Is there really anything better than a day spent outdoors in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains?   How appropriate that I'm eating apple crisp this afternoon as I type.   Our provence is the biggest apple producer in the country.  You'd think with all those apples we'd have lots of apple trea...