I wish it were my Birthday

Because I really want this shirt.

Today Jeff sews on Master sergeant. Mandy, Lily and I will be dressed in pretty dresses. During the ceremony we get to go up on the stage and "tack" his new rank on him. This means we get to punch him in the arm very hard. Or we can be like Angel and kiss it on.

Mandy is working at the base hospital for the summer hire program this year. Last year she worked at the Post Office. At the post office there is no air conditioning and the job was very physical. Hard work builds character and all. This year her job is in the air conditioned hospital answering phones and running errand. Perhaps this will illustrate to her the difference between college and no college. Not that she needs the illustration she is a good student, just nice for her to know. She got the opportunity to watch a circumcision the other day. She was very excited. She thought it was the coolest thing she ever saw. I am so squeamish about blood and pain, but Mandy appears to the type to enjoy that type of thing. I am very grateful for all the opportunities she has been exposed to her at Misawa.

Next week our family is driving down to Tokyo. We are driving ourselves to a hotel in the middle of Tokyo. We got the directions and there is a map of the general area where we are going, there were so many lines on the maps, you know those pesky roads, that the print was so small it was very overwhelming to think I have to navigate us to a specific location in the middle of all that. Good luck. And then we have to find Disneyland from our hotel. I am having a little bit of a panic attack about this. I guess it doesn't really matter that the streets don't have names and aren't marked because there are so many and they are in a different language that even with names and street signs it wouldn't help.

I guess Tokyo is divided into areas, I cannot remember how many I think it was a forty? You follow the signs to your area. Within each area is neighborhoods, so once you are in your area you find your neighborhood. Then within a neighborhood there is 10 sections, label 0-9 you find your section. Then in your section is 10 blocks each block is labeled 0-9, you find your block. Once you have found your block you find the building with in your block each building is labeled with a number 0-9. I don't know what happens if there is more than 10 buildings on a block. So an address looks like this,

123 neighborhood, area

1 - being the building number
2 - being the block number
3 - being the section number

I also read that in Japan if you ask for directions, good luck Marsha does not speak Japanese, they will give you directions even if they don't know the way. It is a social taboo to say, "I don't know". People will make something up rather than say, "I don't know". Hopefully my blond baby will come in handy, for more than just candy this time.

How do I get myself into these things? Ok, panic attack is over. We will be fine. No worries. We have people to help us if we get lost we can call the hotel and they speak English. No worries. Just me having a panic attack.

China shatters my preconceived notions

I am a huge fan of figure skating. I havenÂ’t had the chance to watch much since I got married, but I watch when I can. This past Olympics I got the chance to see most of the skaters. The announcers always give you a little spiel about each skater, a little getting to know you, a life story. When then the announcers introduce us to the Chinese skaters I noticed that they usually tell us how much the Olympics means to these skaters. That they had moved away from their family and had given up everything since they were small children just for this chance to skate here today. This gave me a mental picture of life in China. Made me feel that perhaps Chinese people donÂ’t value children as I do. Who would let their tiny child move far away to go to the Olympics? Seems harsh to me.

I have also always been influenced by the mental image of people so desperate to get out of China and move to America that they get into a cargo container and are smuggled into America. That seems pretty desperate. So many people have migrated to America from China, we even had Chinese neighbors while living in Italy. I imagined that China must be a pretty bad place, everyone wants out. I pictured the entire country with their name on a waiting list, waiting for the opportunity to come to our country. Land of the free, home of the brave.

While we were there, all those ideas went up in smoke. What I saw was happy people, who love their country, their culture, their history. They love China as much as I love America. Everywhere I went people seemed relaxed and happy. People were thoughtful toward us, kind and helpful. There I was the stupid American who needed a little help. Where does this idea that the whole world is jealous and just wants to be us come from? Idoes notsnÂ’t really seem to be valid as I travel the world. Very few people want to give up everything they know and move to America. Just like most Americans think I am a little daft to enjoy living overseas.

One of the Chinese customs that I enjoyed watching was lining up to do stretches in the morning. To my American mind that seems a bit stifling, to be forced to line up in the parking lot and do stretches. While we were strolling the streets of Beijing and noticing the people and their ways, one thing that struck me was that while they were all lined up for their stretches they were all happy. People were joking around and having a good time. Ladies would fix each otherÂ’s hair, someone would make a pithy comment and others would chuckle. It seemed very normal and not at all oppressive.

Our tour guide gave us a lot of history and culture lessons. Most of which I did not hear because of Lily. One thing I did hear was that mothers get 6 months of paid maternity leave. After which the motherÂ’s mother usually takes care of the child until the child is two. At two the children begin pre-school. Once a child begins school there are various tests at different ages, at these tests the students who pass go on to the next level of school, those who do not pass, go on to work. All education is completely free to everyone but you must be able to pass the tests to be given the opportunity to continue, even college. Their military is completely volunteer. Which is a very big deal, one of the reasons our military is the best in the world is that it is an all volunteer force. I guess theirs is too. And the biggest thing that I noticed was the women. I saw women in the military and in other professions regularly in the supervisory role. According to our tour guide almost everyone in China works, and from outside appearances it looks like the women have pretty equal opportunity toward advancement.

I have so much more to say about my trip. I hope to get it all out of me before it is lost forever. Now on to my homework.

Lake Juniko, Japan

I uploaded all my pictures of our trip to Lake Juniko at Flikr.



It was a lovely trip, the location was incredibly beautiful. Lots more shots of the lakes and scenery at Flikr if you are interested.



Here is the squatie toilet where we peed. No need for a seat cover.



Some lovely hand made bags, I am someday going to learn how to make.



Lily looking a bit rough from camping.



Japanese tourists taking pictures of Lily and her blond hair. After taking the picture a very kind gentleman reached into his bag and gave Lily a box of candy. How sweet. Except who knows what ingredients are in the candy, and as you know Lily is allergic to a lot of things. So rather than risk a sick child on a camping trip we discreetly took the candy away from her. Poor Lily. While I was trying to get Lily to take a nap in the tent a little later in the day, Jeff sat outside the tent listening to his daughter cry and ate her candy. How mean is that? Someone call the child abuse police.



The girls posing with Santa at Santaland. This is open year round, but especially popular around Christmas. A man from Finland dresses as Santa and has built a little Santa town which includes sleigh rides etc in the winter. Lots of little souvenier shops, but it was otherwise free. Check out more photos at Flikr if you want. We think his beard is real!



I couldn't help taking this picture on our drive through Misawa, little Japanese school children on a walk, in their little hats, too sweet!



The landscape of Northern Japan.



Lily at the Sea of Japan, right before the puking incident.



If looks could kill.



A traditional Japanese restaurant overlooking the Sea of Japan. Where Mandy and I snuck a pee. We didn't eat there, and found out after leaving there was a public restroom just down the street. My bad.



Lily camping. Still reeking of puke. And that is the bear Grandma and Papa got her for birthday last year, "Bear" never leaves her side these days, she even dresses her and puts diapers on her.



Our campsite. All the Japanese people stayed in the cabins. They were quite expensive and not nearly as much fun. More pictures of the cabins at flikr.





I wonder what those signs say? I hope they don't say big bear will eat you if you go this way, or the road is out, danger mudslide ahead. We went that way, dumb Americans that we are. More pictures at Flikr.

If you live here in Misawa and want directions to Lake Juniko visit Misawa ITT or go to Simon's Hakkoda Powder website where you will find the directions we used which were great.

Crash

About 17 years ago, when I was 20 years old, I was working at Payless Drug Store as the head cashier. I lived in the country about 15 minutes from our little town of Elk Grove, CA. I was renting a room from a lady who lived in a trailer on the edge of a farm.

I had a bad habit of staying out late with my friends and had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I also had/have a bad habit of being addicted to the adrenaline rush of trying to beat the clock. In a perverse sort of way I like to run late and to try to do everything at once and beat the clock and somehow make it to work on time. Brush my teeth while washing my hair, put on my shoes while driving, I like testing my wits and overcoming all odds. Needless to say I was late just about everyday.

On this particular morning it was incredibly foggy. I couldn’t see past the hood of my car. As I was driving to work I somehow got behind a school bus. The school bus was driving even slower than I was. So I turned down a side road in order to get around the bus, I wasn’t dumb enough to try to pass the bus on a country road in the fog, but I was dumb enough to take a side street with which I was only vaguely familiar. It was already past the time I was supposed to be at work and I was going much faster than I should have been going. I somehow missed the sign saying stop sign ahead and all of a sudden I saw the stop sign. I actually saw it while my car sped by. So I slammed on my breaks. Both feet on the floor as hard as I could. Before me a tree emerged from the fog. I pushed down on the breaks even harder. Somehow I managed to stop the car before I crashed head on into a tree.

I had never been so scared. My life passed before my eyes. About half way through my sigh of relief I heard a very loud noise. I felt an incredible jarring and the entire car was all of a sudden spinning. It all happened in slow motion. I had stopped the car in the middle of the street while trying to avoid hitting the tree. There was a truck driving down the road. I had been traveling down a side road the ended into another road. Not stopping at the stop sign had sent me into the middle of this cross street. A truck had been driving down that street and couldn’t stop in time. He hit my back end causing me to spin around in a couple of circles. That noise, the knowledge that I had been hit, it all happened so suddenly so unexpectedly. I had been just then letting out a sigh of relief from avoiding a head on collision with a tree. What a roller coaster of emotions and stress all that up and down in less than a minute.

Perhaps you have been through something similar. A car crash or some other circumstance that unhinged you. It took me over a month for the nightmares to stop. I would be doing my job and something would cause the whole incident to come back over me. My heart would race the adrenaline would rush. I had a hard time getting over it. It did eventually go away. As I type this I can remember the accident without it causing me to physically relive the turmoil.

Every time I get into my car there is a part of me that knows that more American’s die in car crashes than in any other way. I know this but I don’t think about it. I don’t spend any time in a state of panic or fear. I do my best to avoid an accident and wear seat belts, and put the little one in a car seat, other than that I don’t give the danger of the situation a second thought. However, right after my accident I was in a state of constant panic, not just in the car but all the time. I felt as if the safety and security of the world I lived was gone. I had the constant sense that at any moment the sky would fall and something horrid would happen. I guess my internal equilibrium was a bit off.

I wonder if this is what happens to my friends and the husbands of my friends who spend time in Iraq? Imagine having that car crash feeling everyday for months, what would that do to your sense of equilibrium in the world. If it took me a month or two to recover from one little car crash I wonder how long it takes to recover from a year in Iraq?

I love 80's Music

I found this website where you can watch dozens of music videos from the 80's for free. I am having a blast. So much for the homework.

I love 80's Music

Camping in Japan

We are home from our camping trip. It went well. We had a blast. This was the first time we have ever went camping just us, without another family. And it was the best trip ever. From the very beginning we all noticed the difference in getting out the door. When there is not a time table or others to meet, everyone can go at their own pace and get out the door when they are ready instead of at a specific time. By the time we were driving down the road I had tears in my eyes as I told Mandy how proud I was of her. I think I had a bit of PMS. But, I was so very amazed and proud of the young lady Mandy has become. So helpful and thoughtful, we all worked together seamlessly getting packed up and out the door. This is quite a task when you factor in all our animals and Little Miss Lily.

The drive there went pretty well, the directions were wonderful, every turn and landmark was easy to follow. This may not seem like such a big deal to those of you not living in Japan, but it is a major deal. You see they don't really mark streets all that well and reading the signs, which mostly do have English subtitles, but even then they are sometimes hard to follow. We made it there in about 4 hours. Lily slept the first couple of hours and then played with Mandy. She got car sick and puked all over everything and everyone near the end due to the windy mountain roads. She recovered once we got out of the car.

Last year camping with Lily was a bit harder. This year she did pretty good. She will be three in a couple of weeks. Pitching the tent, getting dinner ready all went very well. Just as much cooperation and family togetherness as getting out the door. Mandy did not want to go camping. She in fact hates camping and all outdoor activities. Yet, she helped without having to be asked. She brought to the group an amazing upbeat attitude. It was quite a grown up and nice thing to see. She even said that she had fun.

After dinner as the sun was setting Jeff and I decided to walk down the road to the ice cream shop. The walk was a little over 1 kilometer. By the way this camp ground is amazing and beautiful. I will post the 3 rolls of film as soon as we get it developed. We are just about at the top of a mountain in the camp ground and the road down to the visitor center was very steep and winding. Jeff put Lily on his back and we went down, down, down the road. By the time we got to the visitor center it was almost dark and they were closed for the night. We took a look around at the row boats and the captured bears in a cage. One thing I have noticed about Japan is that they do not appear to be as concerned with animal comfort as we Americans. This was a couple of bears that had been captured as cubs, and they were living in a tiny rusty metal cage with a cement floor.

With everything being closed, Jeff and I started back up the hill. It was incredibly steep. Since we got married we have been going on these walks with the steep hills and climbing stairs to get to the top of stuff. That is just Jeff. Normally I have quite a hard time with the steep hills and the climbing over 1000 stairs to get to the top of some church. But this time I did great. I was able to keep up with Jeff. He did have Lily on his back, but this is so big for me. I WAS ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH JEFF. Anyways, that was the most exciting part of the trip for me.

We got back to the campsite, tried to get Lily to fall asleep in the tent, played some cards and turned in. The other campers had all rented the cabins and we were the only tent campers. It was very peaceful to have such a wonderful campsite all to ourselves. To be there with just us and to work so well and get along so good. Lily had a bit of trouble going to sleep but otherwise it was a nice night. The next day we spent time hiking and seeing all the sites, we even visited Santa Claus at Santaland. I will tell you all about it when we get those pictures.

Next week we are going to Tokyo. This week I have my final project and my final exam in desktop publishing and also my introduction to programming class to worry about. Along with getting ready for Tokyo. I am very excited about Tokyo. We are going to Disneyland. Jeff is finally sewing on Master sergeant on Friday and Lily is turning three July 14th, plus we are excited that we will be in Disneyland for the fourth of July and we will get to see fireworks, God bless America.

Camping

We are going camping this weekend. Driving five hours and then spending two nights. Our first camping trip of the year. I am very excited. The place we are going is supposed to be the most wonderful beautiful spot to camp in all of Japan. I guess I will have to let you know. We will be near the Sea of Japan, and near lakes, forest, and an amusement park. I have to finish my homework, plan the meals, do the shopping, find a dog sitter, etc. Here is a picture I found on the Internet of our intended location.



I hope you all have a good weekend.

Military Photos

http://www.iwo.com/heroes.htm

This is a beautiful slide show tribute to the men and women in Iraq. It made me cry.

I have friends whose husbands have come home from serving in Iraq. These men return very different people than they were before going to Iraq. No longer able to be the husbands and fathers they were before. No longer able to hold a job. For many families having an angry violent man come back is also a loss of a husband and father. Mothers and wives as well. So many of my friends have this angry monster living in their home, where their loving husband used to be.

When I listen to my friends, when I try to help them through this anguish, I ask myself what would I do? What would I do if Jeff was gone and a man who was not good for my children returned? Would I have the strength to stand by him and see him through the years it takes to heal? What would that cost our children? There is a lot more to this story that what gets told.

Happy Father's Day

What a great dad my girls have. They are so lucky. I find the concept of a great dad to be undefinable, just something we know. It is in the ordinary everyday moments. In the ordinary everyday choices. The choice to say a kind word instead of a biting remark. The choice to put the family before his career. The choice to see all the beauty there is in living with me, two daughters, a female dog and a female cat, (his girls) and not dwell on the high levels of estrogen in our home.

Happy Father's day Jeff.

Depression

Last night I went out for drinks with a friend at an Irish Pub. An Irish Pub in the middle of nowhere Japan you say, yes an Irish Pub. Owned and operated by an actual Irish man, with imported Irish drinks and food. It being a Wednesday evening, we are a day ahead of you, the Pub was nearly deserted. We sat together in a dark corner, sipping one cider after another for hours. It was lovely. Have you ever had Irish Cider? It is an apple cider, a dry apple cider with alcohol. It was wonderful, we also had fish and chips with malted vinegar.

There in the Irish Pub my friend and I discussed the meaning of life. We have concluded that (1) watching the news depresses us and (2)many of the women we know and love are depressed and feel guilty for being depressed. Why is that?

Is depression a sin? Does feeling run down and having a lack of zeal for life mean that a person is ungrateful and spoiled? Is it just women who feel this way?

It was lovely to get out. To sit and shoot the breeze with no worries for an entire evening.

Sunshine

Thanks for all your prayers. All is right with the world again. Well almost. There is still no sunshine. It is the rainy season probably wont be any sunshine until mid July. From snow to rain, then the heat. We don't have any air conditioning so you will have to endure my complaints of the heat when that happens as well.

Many of the blogs I read are from wonderful moms who are having trouble getting the little ones to sleep through the night or to go willingly into that good night. Here is my story for what it is worth.

Every night this last week has been hell for me putting Lily down for a nap or to bed. She has been hitting, kicking, screaming all the way from the moment she realized we are going to bed to the moment she falls asleep. With Mandy I felt bad for her and never once left her in her crib crying. I rocked her or took her to bed with me, later when she was in her own bed I laid with her until she fell asleep and returned if she ever woke up. Not Lily. I decided at three months that it was in everyone's best interest if she learned to put herself to sleep and I therefore did everything I could to ease the process but when it is all said and done if she is still crying I leave her alone in her crib in the dark crying. I guess that makes a lot of mothers very mad. That some of us let our babies cry while they are awake all night for months and months or even years and years never sleeping more than a few hours at a time. God Bless each and everyone of them I am afraid if I were to do that I would shake the baby or something horrid. I have also never read a single, how to put your baby to bed book. Even Jeff puts her to bed differently than I do, we each have our own unique routines.

After a week of hell, where Lily cried and screamed and acted like she was dying during her going to bed routine she finally got over it. Due to our bad weather and her hurt foot she was missing the two key elements in our sleep inducing plan, those elements were sunshine and exercise. On those days she was a very difficult child, I being the horrid mother I am, I let her cry. But, normally what happens and what to my complete and total relief happened again yesterday after plenty of exercise and perhaps a bit of UV through the cover of clouds was heaven.

Our ritual mine and Lily's is at nap or bed time first we clean up the toys. I say it is time to clean up. And Lily agrees. We sing our clean up song and she loves to organize her toys just so. Then we go upstairs and hid behind the curtains, as if it were our own private secret playhouse. There we sing some songs, we usually sing songs in monster voices, first really squeaky high and then really growly low. Followed by a diaper change and then the crib. Once Lily is in the crib, she has to arrange her pillows and blankets just so. I am not allowed to help at all. Then she lays on her side and I rub her back and hum her a two songs. She smiles the whole time. At the end of the songs she says, "Good night, I love you, see you in the morning, bye" and then I repeat it to her, turn out the light and leave. Sometimes she gets up and jumps in her crib for awhile. Sometimes she sings to herself. Sometimes she talks to herself. And sometimes she cries. Mostly she doesn't cry, but when she does I usually just let her be. Sometimes if it is a hysterical cry I go back and try to calm her, or if she is sick or having an allergic reaction I will go and try to comfort her. Mostly if I do go and pick her up and rock her in my arms for awhile when I put her back down she is fine.

So that is our thing. I guess everyone has different theories on when or if to pick up the crying kid. For Lily mostly I don't, but when I do I don't think it gives her the message that she should always cry. When I don't I don't think it gives her the message I don't love her. I think that both Lily and I are not people who live in the world of absolutes we just wing it and see what happens.

Whenever I read about other mothers struggles and then some of the really popular blogs end up getting really mean and nasty comments and fights about weather or not to let babies cry themselves to sleep. I have refrained from commenting. I am trying very hard to learn how to not be a big know it all, I am not very successful, am I. Anyways I thought I could write down my thoughts here get them out and not be pushing my opinions on other people. Except you.

So it seems to me that my opinion is that lots of sun and exercise are big helpers in the sleep cooperation department regardless of all the other stuff.

Rain, Rain Go AWAY

It has been raining for a week. The temperatures have dropped, it has been hovering between 45-50 for days. I am cold and in desperate need of some sunshine.

Lily's foot is still a bit sore and swollen and without sunshine and without lots and lots of running, jumping, skipping, and hopping - Lily is a little less than fun!

Say a prayer for sunshine and one for Lily's foot. Maybe one for my headache if you have the time.

Brokeback MIL

For all of you worried about how in the world I would entertain my dear mother-in-law for a whole month, rest easy she wont be coming after all. Perhaps she had the same thought? I guess after having a chance to catch her breath, the thought of a 16 hour flight did not sound appealing. We didn't even tell her that it would be a 12 hour drive after the flight. She told us to save our money and come to visit her instead. That is the story of our families. Family, they don't call, they don't answer emails, they don't visit. Both mine and Jeff's family. I realize that we made the choice to live overseas, but does that make all contact our responsibility? All the time? Aren't relationships supposed to be two way? It doesn't seem like other military families have this problem. Everyone else, their families call, email and visit. I'll get over it I always do.

Yesterday, was my day off. Most Saturday's Jeff takes care of Lily and I get to do whatever I want the whole day. Lay in bed, go shopping, hang out with friends. A day of no responsibility. When we tell other couples with small children about my day off, they are shocked. Wives say that their husband's couldn't handle the kids for a whole day by themselves. That the husbands do everything all wrong and they give me a big list of all the things their husbands do wrong. Husband's say that they need their weekends and that taking care of the little one all day is just too much. But, on Sunday, Jeff gets the whole day off, he can sleep all day, watch sports or whatever. I don't bother him at all. Most of my friends share the responsibility on both day and neither parent really gets a day off. But, what works for us probably wouldn't work for anyone else. We are just weird.

So on my day off, what do I do? I usually hang out with Jeff. What is wrong with me? I should be painting the town red, reading a book, catching up on homework, learning to speak Japanese or something. I woke up yesterday, after sleeping until 9 a.m. (yeah me), and I had a ton of plans. I went downstairs and started talking to Jeff and then, I spent the entire morning with him. I went grocery shopping, to the post office, the dry cleaners -all the errands he kindly does for me on my day off.

The dry cleaners is next to the video store. Lily loves to run in and rent a movie. So while Jeff was turning in his dry cleaning Lily and I went to browse the movies. She loves Dora and Jo-Jo's Circus. I don't usually rent her a movie we just look at the pretty pictures. Jeff came in and he found a war movie, and then he saw that in the bin of used movies for sale was Brokeback Mountain.

He told me how the wife of his friend has bought the movie and made his friend watch it. Jeff proceeded to tell his friend how I couldn't make him watch that movie. How there is no way. And they proceeded to have a conversation about how much their wives could MAKE them do. My husband who gives me a day off, right, he says I can't make him watch a movie. I just have no idea how men's brains work. They are a mystery to me. I wouldn't make Jeff do something, but I cannot remember him ever telling me no about anything, he is that easy going. But, he swears that he is some macho man whose wife doesn't make him do anything. Weird. Perhaps you have to know Jeff for this to make sense, he is very laid back and easy going. But, I guess I couldn't make him do something everything he does is because he wants to do it.

When Brokeback first came out, it was playing in the theater here on the base, a military base. Don't ask, don't tell. Jeff hadn't heard about the movie so Mandy and thought it would be funny if we told him he should go see it. If we told him it was a movie about mountain climbing he would be all excited and go see it. Wouldn't that be funny if he went to the movie alone in front of the whole base. ha, ha. We didn't trick him, we were just messing with his head. Not that there is anything wrong with the movie or the theme of the movie. Just that boys are sensitive and it is fun to pick on Jeff-the-man whose wife cannot make him do stuff.

**PS: Angel I hope this post meets your length requirements (lol) and I didn't write the code for my dad's website. I don't know JAVA. I tried to write the code, and couldn't get it to work, so I used Publisher to create it, used Publisher to turn it into a website and then went through the code and fixed all the links to graphics. So don't be too impressed. I was just glad I could get it to look right, even if I couldn't write it myself. I am taking my first Java programming class and it starts tomorrow so maybe in a few months.

DSL

Just connected to the Internet via our new DSL line. It is so lovely. I cannot tell you how happy I am. I hope you all have a really great weekend.

All before my first cup of coffee

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of Lily talking in her crib. I had stayed up way too late the night before trying to work on writing the code for the webpage I am making for my dad. I got something up and running at Spike's Pickleball Paddles but I am not done yet. Takes forever when you are a beginner at both writing the html code and designing a layout – too many options both on the writing of the code and where to put it all. Thanks for all your advice on the layout.

So I get Lily out of her crib, change her diaper and carry her downstairs. Usually I don’t carry Lily anywhere because she is a very independent little toddler. However, Monday Lily jumping around hurt her big toe. We took her to the doctor on Tuesday as it was swollen and she was hobbling around the house. She got her first x-ray and the doctor told us that little kid bones are not fully developed and it is hard to tell if there is or is not damage. He do know for sure that the toe was not broken and that there was some internal swelling. He advised us to keep her off it as much as possible and to come back if she isn’t better in a week. I have been trying to find ways to keep Lily off her feet. Lily is a very mobile child, very active and this inactivity and being carried around is not fun for her at all.

By the time we get downstairs and I set Lily on the couch, she is very irate. She begins her tirade and screams about every little thing. Have I ever mentioned to you that the sound of Lily’s voice of dissent is louder than the jets that fly over my house? I feel bad for her and I try my horse whisperer technique to stop the screeching. This wasn’t working very well.

I left her on the couch with her screeching as my attempts to help were not met with any success, I moved on and hoped she would too. Next, I cleaned up the cat poo that our dog had dug out of the cat box and spread around the house. Our dog enjoys eating cat poo. Jeff had cleaned the cat box before we retired, and the dog sleeps in Mandy’s room with the door closed. Still the animals thwarted us and I had to clean cat poo before my coffee. I don’t much like to do anything before my coffee especially when I am very tired.

As I was vacuuming and Lily was screaming Jeff came downstairs and did his horse whisperer technique with Lily. His always works, mine is very sketchy. So Lily got all good and sweet, I finished the animal excrement removal of the morning, washed my hands and prepared to get Lily her breakfast. I opened the refrigerator door and the bar that hold all the stuff in the door fell off. Down came all the glass bottles of various items. Including but not limited to a 1 liter bottle of fish sauce. I don’t know if you have fish sauce in your kitchen, but the smell of a liter of fish sauce is enough to kill the average mom before her first cup of coffee. I think that fish sauce is made of fermented fish broth. It is tasty in small portions, mixed with some curry and some coconut milk. Mmmm. We do not have access to soy sauce that doesn’t contain, wheat or corn so I use a lot of fish sauce which is naturally without wheat or corn. Most Thai food is without those items of which our Lily is allergic, so I buy a lot of stuff from the Thai section of our store.

It took me a ½ an hour to finish cleaning the fish sauce, broken glass, get the smell out of the house and repair the refrigerator. I then got Lily her breakfast of banana slices slathered in all natural peanut butter. Lily is happily eating her banana slices, covering her hands and face with peanut butter – it sucks not having that bread buffer. I begin to make the coffee. Just then Mandy enters the kitchen, imagine the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, Mandy is always in a hurry and running late in the morning. So she says in her exasperated I cannot believe you have the nerve to be in my way tone, EXCUSE ME! And I am ushered out of her way, she then SLOWLY goes about making her breakfast right in my way. I screamed at her about not being the only person on earth or something not very nice and she muttered under her breath about how she said excuse me. So Mandy left for school with a chip on her shoulder, great. I finally got to make the coffee, while it percolated I washed Lily’s hands and mouth. She was still hungry so I got her some cold rice, some cold beans, some cheese and some grapes. All her favorite breakfast foods and some milk. Finally I poured my coffee and added my beloved cream and sugar.

I had more first sip of Boca Java’s - Blogs of Bravery. It is a combination of dark and medium beans. I loved it. Best cup of coffee of my life. I heartily recommend you stop by their website and buy as much coffee as you can.

website

check out this, Spike's Pickleball Paddles

It is a screen shot of what I am thinking for my dad's website. I need feedback.

Thanks for all your help so far. I only cry myself to sleep for a couple of days.

Just kidding.

American Day

Once a year the American military community of Misawa, Japan puts on a festival for the Japanese community, called American day. There is a parade, food booths, all sorts of demonstrations of American culture. Yesterday was that day. Jeff was in charge of the booth for his squadron, this is a major fund raising venue for the base community as well. He worked all day both Saturday and Sunday, doing manual labor. His normal job is behind a desk. He is in excellent physical condition, he ran a 1/2 marathon last month, did a triathlon last summer, climbs mountains, snow shoes, and goes to the gym 5-6 times per week. Even though he is in excellent physical condition all this manual labor was hard on the old body. Poor guy.

I have never gone to American Day. This being our last chance to go I made the effort. Jeff had the vehicle due to his having to transport all the stuff. So Lily and I walked there on Saturday. It took me two hours, I was walking pretty slowly and stopped to use the restroom, but still, two hours. By the time we finally got there, everyone was cleaning up, so we went home. Sunday, Lily and I took the bus there. It is very hard to get a stroller on the bus, so we walked from the bus stop to the festival. Not too far for me, but for Lily. Well she made it. We got there and Mandy, who helped her dad all day both days, Mandy took her to the parade. We walked around a bit and went home. It is hard to do a festival with a little one who is free to roam in a large crowd. Plus there was so much food, all of it contained items of which Lily is allergic. We didn't make the walk all the way to the community center to see the demonstrations of American culture, did I mention the hundreds of thousands of people from all over northern Japan and the no stroller thing.

Lily and I missed the bus home, there being one bus per hour, we had to wait another hour. We walked around, went to a playground, etc. Lily was a bit grumpy, not having eaten in about 4 to 5 hours and having been walking for about a mile over that same time span. She wasn't too terrible just not her normal self. So we finally made it home. Lily has been less than eager to eat a lot lately, just grazing for the last couple of weeks, but boy did she shovel down the grub after that. That is how we spent our weekend.

My new class, programming, is being delayed a week. Closer to the time I get my DSL, so we will just have to wait and see what happens. The latest incarnation of "the logo" is on the sidebar, I haven't heard from Dad yet, so we will see what he thinks. I guess I will have some time to work on the website. My desktop publishing class has been on a break last week so I may be busy with that this week.

I hope you all had a great weekend and that this week is fabulous.

The logo

My teacher didn't believe I designed the logo for my dad's company. And by the way dad does not like the blue and red logo, I did. Anyways I have made another one, but I wont subject you to any more of my tweaking. I wrote my teacher a long email detailing how I did every last bit of it and how many hours it took me, I even sent her the lastest version. I sent her all of your email addresses as references that the work was mine, just kidding. But, after my very long email she beleived me and I got more points on my project. Yeah, more points.

I went over my alloted Internet hours this month and it cost us $50 extra dollars. I talked Jeff into signing us up for unlimited DSL access, which wont start until July, but this month I start a new class and we have to download a bunch of programs, tomorrow. Very frustrating. I am paying all the extra money and then not getting it when I need it. I should just cancel the upgrade, oh wait, no I don't want to do that either. So I feel so bad, I have been spending money like it grows on trees around here.

Wheat

My two, almost three year old, daughter Lily is allergic to wheat, corn, oat, egg, tomato and apple. Click here for the whole sorted story.

I have become pretty good at managing this problem over the last two years. It has become second nature. I worried about getting her proper nutrition, and about being able to cook something edible, and about having to cook everything from scratch every meal of every day. Things are pretty smooth and I am used to it now.

When I first started to try and figure it all out I did a lot of research. That is how I discovered blogging and one of the first blogs I discovered was, Gluten-Free Girl. She discovered that she has Celiac Disease in her 30's. She is a wonderful writer and wonderful cook. I have dearly loved so many of the recipes I have found at her website, like lemon-rosemary-garlic roasted chicken and potatoes, and salmon covered in orange marmalade-mustard-wasabi. Go to her blog and find the recipes, you wont be sorry. But, more than the recipes I love her enthusiasm. She believes that having to live without wheat is a blessing not a curse. It gives us a chance to try new things, and discover new foods. I have to say that the food we are eating now does taste better than the wheat food. Her enthusiasm is contagious. And now she is being featured on the foodnetwork. How amazing. Congratulations Shanna! She also has tons of great links to other food bloggers most are not gluten free but all have really great recipes. Yummy!

For 7 weeks and 2 days I participated in Misawa's Biggest Loser contest. I came in 23 place out of more than 200 participants. Not great but not terrible either. Everyone on my team, except me, quit the contest so our team was disqualified. So sad. Talk about big losers, just kidding. During the contest I lost 15 lbs. Yeah. For food, I ate what I was already cooking for Lily. I had done all the research and I was already cooking it so I just made a little more and ate the Miss Lily diet. Wheat-free, corn-free, egg-free, oat-free, tomato-free, apple-free. During the contest I also made sure I drank plenty of water and exercised everyday.

The contest ended the day before my birthday. And on my birthday I had cake, and then I had some pizza, and some toast, some sandwiches. Not all on the same day, but that week. I was good about calories but I started eating regular food again. I didn't exercise all that much or drink as much water. While I was participating in the contest I had started to feel better. I didn't realize it at the time, because the progression of feeling better was slow. But, when I went off the Miss Lily food diet all my previous conditions returned like a thunder bolt and I noticed. My aches and pains, sluggishness and poor temperament returned. Bam! Not slowly but they all just returned. Back ache, knee pain, ankle pain, stiff neck, head aches, allergies, always tired, no motivation. I had felt that way for years, maybe my whole life and I was feeling better and didn't know it. I am now wondering if Lily got her food issues from me?

So I am back on the Miss Lily food diet, including the exercise and water. I hope I feel better soon. I could be the water or exercise or a combination of all three or a coincidence? I guess I will have to experiment to figure it all out.

Pickleball Paddles

I had to make another logo for my dad. He didn't like the one y'all liked because his paddles are white fiberglass with a touch of green and not black or silver as I portrayed them to be. This caused me a ton of work, because the background was white, and then I went crazy. So I made the new logo and I made a little website for him, which will more than likely get all changed after I get my feedback. Still it was fun.



click the logo if you want to see the website.