Project 365, Week 8

Hosted by Chris

Day 50, February 19

Noah's teacher asked me to pick up some pizzas for his class on Friday. She owed them a pizza party for winning an award.

Six pizzas for a bunch of six-year-olds.

Day 51, February 20

My kids received a bunch of Bendaroos for valentines day from my parents. They have been making things left and right and leaving them all over the house. As I was cleaning up Saturday, I picked up a blanket and found this dead, curled up spider hiding there. Really, honestly... I jumped a little.

Day 52, February 21

This picture isn't even that interesting.

The story behind it is, though.

As I was putting dinner in the oven, I heard a thump, like something had fallen inside the oven. I ignored it, and then had a quick thought to take a second look. I saw this tub of Carmex sitting on the floor of my 425 degree oven. I grabbed the tongs and pulled it out, but not before it left a melted ring of plastic on the oven. The carmex completely melted (that's why I stuck the pencil in- so you could see the melted-ness (wow, I just made up a word)).

How, you ask, did it get in there in the first place?

One answer: Cooper.

Day 53, February 22

One of the saddest days in a long time.

My only bottle of Mexican Vanilla shattered all over the floor.

Not a big deal?

WHATEVER!

I use this stuff for everything! I really, actually shed some tears over this.

Now I have to spend $25 to have more mailed to me, because the soonest any of my friends is going on a cruise to Mexico is May, and there is absolutely no way I can wait that long.

Day 54, February 23

I only took a handful of shots today, and none of them were fabulous. So I picked the worst one. Can you guess what it even is?

Day 55, February 24

I drive past 3 or 4 large ponds/small lakes when driving to post. Lately I have wanted to take pictures of them because they have been completely covered in snow, and just gorgeous. However, there really is nowhere for me to pull over and park to take those pictures, and if I do dare and stop, I am risking getting stuck in the snow.

This week our snow has almost totally melted, and the lakes are thawing out. I was glad I had the camera with me.

Day 56, February 25

My backyard is a lake.

Ok, well, I am actually standing in my backyard, but took a picture of my neighbor's backyard (mine looks pretty mush the same).

If you notice, the houses on the right are all uphill. We are at the bottom of that hill.

Ug.

On a side-note... I actually took this shot a few different times, trying to get a good one. I'm still not sure if this is my favorite one. A close runner up was with the puddle in focus instead of blurry. Hmmm.... decisions, decisions.

**Sorry, no recipes this week. I made a bunch of rather blah meals, none worth sharing. Maybe I will double up on the recipes next week**

Admitting I'm A Criminal

Ok, get ready to laugh....

Remember my terrible Monday a few weeks back, and the damage said Monday caused my car?

Well, there's more to the story.

I seriously can't even believe I am blogging about this.

Last Thursday, the Polizei (German police) showed up at my door saying that they had reason to believe my car was in an automobile accident. We spoke a lot about the van hitting the fence, how I was cut off going around the corner and how it had been icy. When I told him that, yes, in fact, my car had scraped the fence, he said "you knew, and you didn't report it to the police? Well, now you have a charge against you for a hit and run."

Sweet.

He took my information and told me that it is against the law to hit anything and not report it to the polizei. By anything, that means a fence, a cat, anything.

The next day, more polizei came to my house and took pictures of the car.

The following day more came and gave me a phone number and told me to "call this person now."

I did, and that person told me I had to come in the next morning (which was Sunday) and give a statement. Oh, and I had to bring a translator with me.

Luckily I have a wonderful neighbor who is fluent in both English and German, and she was more than happy to help.

So I went to the station and gave my report. In that report the polizei put that I was "sorry, and that I did not intend to commit a crime."

Now I wait for the fine, if I get one at all. The polizei told me that in small cases like this, they usually just ignore it. To which I was thinking, "then why are we going through all this?"

My insurance will pay for the damages to the van and to the fence, so we don't have a problem there. It's just that now I am a criminal in Germany.

Again, sweet.

Go ahead. Laugh.

Project 365, Week 7 / PSF

Hosted by Chris

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Day 43, February 12

We had two extra kids at our house for the weekend.

It was a ton of fun, but there were a whole lot of wet boots in my hall way.

Day 44, February 13

I took this through a hole in our snow cave. I actually really like this picture.

Day 45, February 14

Valentine's Day.

Pete bought two potted flowers not yet in bloom for Valentine's Day; one for me and one for Annie.

Hers was a pink tulip. Mine, a purple hyacinth.

Day 46, February 15

Do I really have to explain this one?

I wish my grandma Hodson were around to see this girl in action.

Grandma taught me to put olives on my fingers and how to swear.

She would be so proud of Annie.

Day 47, February 16

Homemade Bread.

Nothin' better.

This bed is great because you don't need a breadmaker for it, just a mixer with dough hooks.

Here's the recipe.

Day 48, February 17

I found this little piece of awesomeness while on a walk with my kids.

It is a piece of the Berlin wall.

Here are some more pictures.

Day 49, February 18

My hyacinth in bloom.

Can't you just smell them?

A Piece Of History In My Backyard

A few weeks ago, while taking a walk with the kids, we stumbled on this little piece of history.

It is an original piece of the Berlin Wall, right here in my own little city of Weiden.

It was placed here in October, 2008.

This plaque reads " Original Berlin Wall Part. Capitol city divided from 1691-1989."

These hooks are on both sides of each piece, and I assume they were to hold each piece to another.

The Snow Fort

The way that our yard and driveway are set up leaves no room for Pete to dump all the snow when he is shoveling. So he dumps it all into the yard of the empty house next door. As you can imagine, there is a lot of snow there at the moment. So Saturday morning, Pete went out and built a snow cave for the kids to play in.

We had two of our neighbor kids over the weekend while their parents were out of town, and all of the kids had a blast playing in the snow.

We were pretty disappointed when we came home Sunday after church and found some of the older kids in the neighborhood playing in it, and tearing it apart. A few hours later, it was destroyed. I guess next time the fort needs to go in our own backyard.

Coop is just so stinkin' cute in his snow gear.

Noah and Joey.

"Cheeks" as her daddy calls her.

Miss Joey

It took a lot of convincing to get Cooper in there.

This shot cracked me up. She was trying to pull twigs off a bush for their snowman. He needed arms, of course.

The kids decided it would be fun to bury (or "marry" as Cooper said) Pete in the snow.

Then he decided to bury them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Peeking through hearts, we tell you all

We Love You!

Happy Valentine's Day!

And, to Pete.... I love you.

Project 365, Week 6 / PSF

Hosted by Chris

Hosted by Cecily and Mamarazzi

Day 36, February 5

I walked downstairs and found that this poor, defenseless little puppy had been hung from the ceiling. I have yet to find out what his crime was.

Day 37, February 6

The Amazing Cooper.

He can squeeze himself into tight spaces and then...

get stuck.

Day 38, February 7

The last minute shot.

I took this at 11 p.m. after realizing I hadn't taken anything that day.

On my nightstand you will find:

lotion

a mulberry scented candle

vapo-rub (or the cheap knock-off)

chapstick (never the same kind, though)

my U.S. cell phone

The phone doesn't work here, but I still use it for my alarm.

Day 39, February 8

This was my craptacular day.

But the end of the day proved well when I took some cool pictures, thanks to Pete making me get off my depressed butt and forcing me to take pictures of something. He suggested this.

Any ideas?

Day 40, February 9

It's really cold here, like, Wisconsin-cold here.

This is what Annie and Cooper look like in the stroller as we take Noah to the bus stop.

They also have their snow gear on for added warmth.

Do they make a battery operated warming blanket? Cause we need one.

Day 41, February 10

Buttered Noodles with Chicken and Lemon.

This isn't what it's called on my recipe blog.

I just can't remember what I named it.

Wanna make it? Here you go.....

Day 42, February 11

I know what this is. Do you?

It's Almost TIme For Fasching....

... stay tuned.

It Was A Really Bad Monday....

I had the epitome of all bad Mondays yesterday.

The day started with Noah waking up and telling me that his ear hurt "on the inside."

So I got up early and made him an appointment, an early appointment, so then I was rushed.

Pete had the morning off, so he helped me get everyone ready for the day, and we headed off to school. Because we were leaving straight from Annie's school, I drove the van.

Now, normally, I take the widest roads I can to Annie's school, especially with all the snow piled up everywhere. It gets kind of tricky driving in my monster van out here.

As I was coming around a corner, another vehicle cut that corner. Now I can't even tell you who is completely at fault here, maybe both of us. But instead of stopping and letting this person pass me, I swerved over, and I swerved too far.

I ran my van across a green fence.

Isn't it awesome?

(the white part is salt, by the way)

I was so mad; I actually swore out loud, which is rare for me.

Of course, Pete saw and wasn't happy either.

The whole drive after that I cried my eyes out, mostly because I was so upset with myself, but also because I ruined one side of my almost-paid-off van.

It will have to be fixed soon, or it will rust out with all the salt that is thrown on the roads here.

So that gave me a headache.

Then I forgot to eat, and when you are hypoglycemic and you don't eat, the headache you already have gets much worse.

We took Noah to the doctor, then to school and all was well. Cooper and I had lunch while we waited to meet a missionary couple who was driving from a few hours away (I'll post about that later). We spent a few hours with them, and enjoyed our time greatly.

On the way home, I realized that I still had the headache, which had now made my stomach hurt, and it was all I could do not to throw up in the car.

I got home, picked up my kids, put a movie on, and laid down to sleep for an hour.

By now, it was past 6 p.m., and I hadn't made dinner, so I scrambled up some eggs, cleaned up a very stinky kitchen (we had shrimp the night before) and bathed kids.

Along the way, I spilled some plates, knocked over a cup of milk that managed to splatter my kitchen from ceiling to floor, and hurt myself a few times.

Pete was cleaning some new crystal that was given to us, and he strictly forbade me from touching it.

I pulled out my camera at the end of the night and took some awesome pictures, and that calmed me down a bit.

Oh, and I watched Lost. That helped.

Seriously, I need a rewind button for my life. A start over button would be nice, too.

And I keep wondering how I am going to handle all this when Pete is gone.

UG.