Grandma's 100!!!

My family had a party at church on Sunday afternoon to celebrate Grandma's 100th birthday. They wrote a story about her in the local newspaper and had the story about her on 2 local TV stations. So the only thing left now is an appearance on my blog! LOL

Here are the links: http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802250370

http://search.ozarksfirst.com/

(If the 2nd one doesn't take you to her story, type in Esther Carlson.)

My grandmother was superwoman before anyone thought they needed to call a woman that for being able to get it all done. She was married to a Lutheran pastor, had 4 children (her only daughter died at the age of 2), worked as a nurse, nursing teacher, and head of the newborn nursery at a local hospital. Grandpa hated store bought bread (impossible to get it fresh enough) so she baked all their bread, made cinnamon rolls, Swedish rusks, cooked everything pretty much from scratch. She's the one who taught me how to knit, gave me my love for Scripture and studying God's Word, and if I could end up being half the woman she is, I'll be well-satisfied.

I love you, Grandma!

Fun with the boys

We've had so much fun with The Boss's friend since he's been with us. He's spent 2 nights with us and we love having him here.

The other day I was chatting with Quasimodo (see below in favorite website) and she'd asked if it was safe to have the nanny/maid sleep in the same room as the twins. We'd never really thought about it but I don't care for it because having 3 beds in there is just too cramped. They have the largest bedroom and there's less than a foot between each bed the way we have them. Anyway, DH was checking something online while Quasi and I were chatting and when she answered and the computer chimed he brought her box back up so I could answer her. He read her questions and the next day he said he wanted to empty the pantry and turn it back into a maid's room so she could have some privacy. LOL Yeah, right. Anyway, the tiny cramped maid's room is going to be a maid's room again. He's going to make her a bed that will have to be narrow to open the door but at least it will be the length of the longest wall (6 ft.). It'll have to be very narrow but it'll be comfy at least. He'll find a way of cutting down a mattress or something from our friend who refurbishes old furniture into really nice stuff. (Our house is filled with it. He does great work.) It's tiny but she'll have privacy. And the twins will have room to play! :)

So, we started that project yesterday and I didn't know we had so much in that tiny room! We moved the shelf into the kitchen and removed the bottom shelp so it could go over the propane tanks next to the stove. Then there are some cabinets DH brought home and they're stacked next to it and they hold the appliances and other things not used daily but fairly regularly. The food processor, juicer, blender, and electric tea kettle are on top since they're used more than the others. (I did good picking out that juicer for DH's birthday.)

I was stuck with finding a place for DH's tool boxes since he got called into work again so I thought under our bed. But, of course, they're too tall so one is on top of the closet and the other behind the door. Not my first choice. Other odds and ends are under the bed but he'll have to find a place for those. I don't want to be moving them to sweep under the bed and I doubt the lady from Sri Lanka will want to mess with them either. Just slows you down when you're trying to get something done.

We're getting rid of the ugly, crummy pots and pans he got at Friday Market last year along with a few others we bought that were just too cheap for words. I asked the man at the bakala downstairs to tell our guard that we have them. I would throw them away but I'd rather make them available to anyone who needs them but doesn't have the money to go buy some. If he doesn't know anyone I may ask him to ask the imam at the little mosque next to us. He'd surely be likely to know of someone. There are a lot of labourers around who'd surely make good use of them.

He's back!!!

I went for my walk with Elektra this morning for the first time in ages. I've been good about walking at school, except for Thursday when the celebration was going on and I had no breaks. But it's the first school day I've missed. Last weekend I didn't get a walk in due to DH's work schedule so today we went to the park. It was locked because they were watering and stuff so we walked around the Fintas Towers instead.

When we arrived home The Boss met me at the door and I could have sworn he said that the monkey was back in Kuwait with its parents. He was actually saying the name of his best friend who left for what we though would be a few weeks last September when their home burned down back home. It's now rebuilt and they're here until June. We were very excited. We had been wondering if we'd ever see them again and then they called today. He and his mom got back 2 days ago. So I took the boys and the twins to McD's for lunch, ran to the grocery store and were going to head back so DH could take them for target practice with the bows and arrows DH picked up at Bass Pro when he was home. But then DH called as I was walking into the store and he'd gotten called into work so the target practice was out. They're now consoling themselves with PS2.

While at McD's I read while they played. I'm reading the book on the Augsburg Confession and it's excellent. Very sound theology with Scripture to back up everything. After I collect my thoughts I'll have to start writing about it on here. Hopefully I'll do as well as Anita on Ask a Lutheran (see below). She's doing a series on the liturgy which I desperately want to plagarize. Hey, why reinvent the wheel? LOL

Well, I'm off to catch up on posts on my favorite forums. I changed my signature on a couple to include the picture above. I have to say I think it's a good one. I'm thinking The Rebellious Pastor's Wife should get a kick out of it.

Another holiday! Whoohoo!

I hope no one's thinking that I've given up blogging. I've just given up any free moments in my day. We're still without a maid but as soon as we can get a form from my school we can get the visa for the lady we're hiring from Sri Lanka. She's a few years younger than we are, has 2 kids, and her husband passed away. Worlds apart from the last one.

Yesterday we had our National Day/Liberation Day celebration at school. One of the coordinators said she didn't know how much you could do with a flag. The girls were dressed in gorgeous dresses in the flag's colors, headbands, barettes, jewelry, everything. OK, it was closer to tacky on some of them, but they looked adorable. And my girls performed a song for the assembly and did a wonderful job. These girls work very hard and always do their best. After the assembly there was a puzzle contest, face painting and henna for the hands. I got some on my hand. Last year my neighbor took me to a relative of hers who has a salon. She painted henna from my hand up to my shoulder. Yesterday I got some on my hand. It looks nice. My friend got it on her wrist like a bracelet and looks nice. But my sleeves were too long and would have made a mess.

The other day I mentioned to DH that I had worn the same dress to Giurgian last year, National/Liberation Days last year, and Giurgian this year. He said, "So why don't you go buy another one?" LOL So I did and got a great price on it. It's so pretty.

Well, I have to confess that we played hookie from church this morning. After a week of going to bed after 11 (closer to midnight) and getting up at 5, the last day at work being on my feet than I normally am (no free periods to sit and grade or make lesson plans), I'm pooped. So I went to bed (near midnight again) and slept until 10. I had to get up once around 6:30 and then was in and out after that, but it was so nice not to get out of bed for that long. Then I got up, got dressed, and made some pancake syrup and pancakes while getting stuff ready for Greek Chicken in the crockpot. Yum! I just wish I had a better crockpot. It had a reliable brand name on the box but after we got it home and opened it, the name didn't appear anywhere else. I saw what looked like a much better one at my favorite appliance store here a few weeks ago, when I went to get DH's juicer for his b-day, so I'm thinking after we pay everything for the visa, civil ID, etc. for the new nanny/maid, I just might have to go buy it. Anyway, this one works, but it tends to cook hotter and I just don't feel safe leaving the house with it one, like I would with my better one back home.

Well, I thought of a really good topic for a post this morning but it's mostly gone now. I'll have to try to remember what I was thinking about and try to recreate it. I knew I needed to work it out before blogging about it anyway. And with a nice 5-day holiday I should be able to do that just fine. :)

BTW, I had to edit this post because I pulled a "Kuwaiti". I spelled salon as saloon. You rarely see a sign for a salon with the word spelled correctly. I like to say that for a country that doesn't allow alcohol they sure have a lot of saloons. LOL

Boy, am I behind!

Wow! I haven't posted since Friday?! Well, let's see.

Sunday was our 12th anniversary. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant in a mall near us. The food, of course, was delicious. We ate hummus (DH did), baba ghanouj (I did), a raw meat dish that you spread garlic sauce on (YUM!), mixed grill with shish tawouk and beef kafta. Tabbouli, of course. Then we rolled home. LOL

It was the probably the last date we'll have for quite a while since we no longer have our housemaid. She's been with us since April but try as we might we couldn't get her to let go of her honesty issues. She wasn't a thief, just unable to tell the truth no matter what. Unlike a lot of the families from this country we allowed her to actually get a good night's sleep, eat, have a cell phone, internet access, etc. She was our employee, not our servant. She was there for the primary purpose of caring for the twins and some housekeeping. She was a great cook so I gladly let her do that as much as possible. We treated her like the family although there were times it was more like one of our kids. But Monday we caught her in a lie and how she couldn't know we already knew the truth I don't know. DH asked her directly at least 10 times and each time she lied. She only admitted the truth when we showed her the proof of her lies. So we gave her an ultimatum. She could continue to work for us with restrictions on those priviledges (only using them on her day off-something else few housemaids ever see) or she could return to the agency and hope for something better (not likely to happen). Well, she decided to return to the agency. Can y'all say stupid? Does she think a woman who's been returned to the agency TWICE for the SAME THING will find a position with a family that will treat her as well? People who treat their housemaids like humans and allow them cell phones, internet, freedom, etc. only want women who can be trusted to begin with.
Well, we took her back that same hour and the agency wouldn't take her back. They'd already given her her second chance. So the owner wandered around the building to the other domestic helper agencies and finally found one who'd be will to take her contract. She's found a new position so good luck to her. Meanwhile we're waiting about a month and a half for a woman that we have to get a visa for.
I know this isn't the kindest thing and I'll work on it (eventually) but I kind of look forward to seeing her walking in the mall, carrying stuff for half a dozen kids, wearing one of those tacky maid uniforms with a headscarf. All that shopping she loved to do and nowhere to wear it. LOL

OK, there's my vent for the day.

Good news! I'm keeping up with my walking. Next Monday I have a parent conference during my normal walking time so I'm hoping I can still squeeze it in. Wish me luck!

Ash Wednesday and beyond

Wednesday night I went to Ash Wednesday service. It was held at the vicar's home and it was a very small gathering. It was wonderful and very reminiscent (sp?) of the early church I thought. Only I don't think they had cell phones going off during their meetings. LOL

We stood in a circle around the coffee table for him to come around with the ashes and then again for communion. We gave each other communion and that was very nice. I just had to make a quick trip to the bathroom to wash my hands since I'd just been wiping my nose (darned cold) and only wanted to share bread and wine and nothing else.

Starting next week we'll be having a Bible study on prayer. This will be good for me since I suffer from ADPD...Attention Deficit Prayer Disorder. I can not finish any prayer I start unless I'm reading or reciting it. If it's during the day something I pray about will remind me of something I need to do or get me started on a rant. If it's bedtime I'm fallying asleep before I'm finished. Heaven help me! I hate to blame Satan for it (he gets enough blame for things that I'm sure are actually his fault). I have this difficulty with a lot of things. It started with tuning out my dad's 2-sentence lectures. How can you lecture someone with only 2 sentences you may wonder? By repeating those 2 sentences over and over, and over, and over, ... You get the point.

Well, after tomorrow it's back to school again. I like school, love the students I have, and enjoy my fellow staff members, but my alarm goes off at 5 a.m.! I'm so NOT ready for that. We'll have 2 days off later in the month for National Day/Liberation Day and then it's a long, dry spell until spring break in April.

Yesterday was DH's birthday party. He was very surprised. We ended up beating everyone else to the restaurant so we got the tables ourselves. He figured others were joining us when the Boss kept telling him to close his eyes from the parking lot (nevermind that there are cars flying by and stairs to go up once you're inside). Then I was looking around for people who weren't there yet. He about fainted when I told the server that we'd be 17! He frantically started counting on his fingers to figure out who all was coming. LOL He had a blast. Then we brought people back over for cake and we were all up until around midnight. It was fun. I wonder what he'll do for my b-day in March? LOL

Beginning of Lent

I can't believe Lent starts tomorrow. It seems like we just took the Christmas tree down. Of course, we did just take it down last week since DH wasn't here most of January and he had the boxes stored at his office. LOL But still, we weren't turning on the lights anymore and it was just part of the house decor for the longest time. But tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and I'll be beginning, again, Reliving the Passion by Walter Wangerin, Jr. I love this book. I first got it Lent of '93. It caught me so tightly. I haven't been this wrapped up in the suffering of Christ again until seeing The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. Wangerin is a master storyteller and if anyone reading this can find a copy somewhere, get it. It's a wonderful experience.

I'm also reading "Augsburg Today". It's the Augsburg Confession and explanations. It's wonderful. I'm enjoying really digging into what being a Lutheran Christian means as far as our beliefs. No disrespect for my sisters in Christ who aren't Lutheran, but I just don't imagine I could ever feel as home in another church like I do in the Lutheran church...the exception being our wonderful Anglican congregation here in Kuwait. This church felt like home the first time we visited a couple of years ago and it still does.

Well, the dinner last Thursday didn't go as planned. All but one guest wasn't able to come due to a sandstorm. So we enjoyed the company we had and ate a lot of fish. This friend is one who is also afraid of our dog. I don't know if I've told this story here or not, but once he was visiting us and Elektra decided to be sociable and head toward him, probably hoping for a pat on the head. No such luck. He grabbed the Little Prince and pulled him between himself and the dog. Imagine! Using a 3 year-old as a shield against dear, sweet Elektra! Anyway the other night when he arrived DH told Elektra to go away and sit down (knowing how afraid our friend is). Then the guys went to the kitchen where DH was preparing the fish. I returned to the bedroom where I was getting ready for our company. I heard Elektra bark and growl. When I went out to the kitchen, S explained that she had come into the kitchen a couple of times with the twins and each time DH had told her to go out and sit. She did. The last time she came in, S decided, that based on DH's example, he'd tell her to do the same. He told her to go out and sit and she growled at him! I guess she wondered who he thought he was telling her what to do! LOL

Then on Sunday, while the Boss was at school, DH decided to grab the bikes and let the twins ride around the park while Elektra and I walked. I took them down and realized I'd left their jackets in the apartment. While I was gone to get them apparently a man was walking by and Elektra felt that the twins weren't close enough to DH to be safe. So she bit the poor man between the legs. Apparently not hard enough to injure him, just enough to get her point across. DH said the poor guy was still looking back after he was clear down the street. It's so hard to imagine her doing that. DH keeps telling me how she tries to go after people she thinks are too close to the twins but it always happens when I'm not around. She's such a sweet, timid thing around us. She lets the twins just do anything to her and she just will do anything to please us. But let her think you're going to help set or clear the table and she lets you know you're not allowed to mess with our stuff. LOL

Well, tomorrow I might be having lunch with my friend from school. I still don't know if another friend is joining us or not. She was heading to Egypt and may not be back yet. I haven't chatted with my friend since I drove her home the last day of school before break so this will be real nice. I just have to make sure I get my walk in early tomorrow. I'm enjoying listening to John MacArthur on these walks. I'm learning a lot and I enjoy his style of preaching. I just wish we didn't have dial-up because it takes forever to download the programs...especially the TV broadcast.

I'm debating fasting for Lent. I'd like to for a change, to make it more meaningful. But I just love meat too much. At least I can still have fish. Yum! I'll have to think fast...it starts in half an hour. LOL