The fun continues!

As you can imagine, I'm sporting a perpetual, goofy grin on my face! I'm hanging with the Germans all day long!!! Ahhh, the Deutschsprechen! I know, I know, everyone is tired of hearing it.... but, I must say..... I can understand the conversations!!! Of course, my friends know that I cannot keep up when they get excited and talk zu schnell.... aber, most of the time, they keep the talking to a good pace and I can keep up!!! Wheeee!

Last night I discovered that I'm thinking to myself in German, I dream last night in German... as I type now... the German translation is running through my head, causing many back spacing in my English typing! hahahahah Ah what fun!

Anyways.... on to the meat of the day! Today is May 30th. Na, und?... "du sagst..."

What were we doing 14 years ago today????

A few pictures...

It is wonderful! I saw our friends waiting as we arrived to pick them up!! And in my excitement... I launced into a great stream of english! heh.... to which they responded equally excitedly to me in german! The brain then switched over.... it was much easier this time! Our friends have noted to me how my German is much improved since '03! Yay! I've only needed my Langenscheidt a few times for lost words.... I'm having so much fun... as one might imagine! =)

So... last night on the deck

Lunch today at our restuarant on the river....

and the 2nd concert today! Fascinating instrument... sitting this close I discovered it has chin buttons! How cool is that?!!


Ok, so, wir machen viel spass!

bis bald!

Unser erste konzert

surrounded by the German language again! Sehr gut!

The Germans will be here today!!!

Wheeee! Although, I tried tracking their flight... since they're only a couple hours into the trip, the system couldn't find their plane yet.....

So, they'll arrive in Chicago at 3:15 this afternoon.... by time they clear customs, get their luggage and make their way up to cowtown, we'll be having a dinner on the porch in our steamy backyard tonight with them!!! And what says "Welcome to America" better than a platter of peanutbutter and jelly sandwichs??!!! hee hee hee heee. (would I do that???!) ;)

Last minute cleaning and fresh linens to put on their beds..... a quick run to the grocery store and we'll be ready!!!

The cleaners came Thursday, so our house looks spiffy too! What else?? That's about it. Off I go now..... tidy, tidy, tidy....

Pictures to follow in the next days! It's a big holiday weekend here for us.... lots of BBQ and fun!

*going now to brush the dust off my yellow, Langenscheidt pocket German dictionary!! ;)

Grass Cutting

I got this e-mail from my friend, Roddy, who lives in Wales. And you thought cutting your lawn was difficult!

"Well, I managed to get the grass cut... first time in almost 3 weeks... the trouble is... it rains... wet grass... can't cut... then wait for it to dry out... at least a day -- day and a half... then wait for the dew to disappear... then it rains again... and this has been going on for 3 weeks...

Finally yesterday was a good day-- all day-- so... went to cut the grass... mower had flat tyre...

Managed to lift the sit-on mower with one hand whilst removing tyre--go to take tyre to repair shop in van... van hits parked mower... and... busts the other tyre on the mower... lift mower with one hand... remove second tyre...

Get in van... go to repair shop... repair shop closed... go home... decide to pump up tyres to see if they will take the air without support glue....

Pump broken... fix pump...

Both tyres eventually blown up to full capacity... need a car jack... go get car jack from shed...

Car jack broken... fix car jack... put both tyres back on mower...

Cut grass... grass so long sit-on mower almost doesn't manage to cut grass... finished last night at 7:30pm... started raining at 8pm...

It always rains here... I hate grass cutting...."


Don't we all...

Hmmm, dilemma

So now I have a Mexican family lined up to clean the house Thursday morning. A guy who sounds just like Cesar Milan of The Dog Whisperer.... mmmmm, Cesar!!! ;)

And, a Polish Lady and her friend coming to clean Friday evening for 3 hours. A sweet girl, probably about my age, with that lovely European-sounding accent.... although, she sounded a bit more Russian than Polish.... in my humble opinion....

Oh brother. What to do? They both charge about the same... Yvonna is actually $5 cheaper. sigh.

And then, can I get a gardener to just come out and "spring clean" my island garden???? By Saturday???!

I'm now lining up the guest menu. Hmmm, lots of good ideas... although, we were thrown for a loop when the other lady traveling with our friends announces that ... "oh yes, I'm a vegetarian"... but she did add "Ich bin einfach gestrickt" .... and not to buy/cook anything special, that she will get along.... sigh. Nevertheless... I'm still thinking twice about having adequate food along with the regular stuff so she gets fed properly! Ack, how can you live in Germany with all that good sausage and just not eat it!?! I just don't get vegetarians wherever they live!!! I get that some people just don't like the taste/texture of meat and/or what it does to their digestive tract... I get it. So, pull the pepperoni off your pizza. It's the adamant ones who get on their soapboxes about the meats juices or aura's 'bleeding' into the rest of the meal that just makes my eyeballs roll... gah! Puh-lease.... sigh. heh!

Anyways.... it's coming together.... it is! Now, if I can quickly get rid of this nasty cold that came up out of nowhere yesterday.... *sniffle*

Magnetic Sign

And here's one of the Magnetic Signs that will be put on a certain Cee person's new van!

Karate Patch

Here's the YHKI patch that's on order... Get yours today!

Morgen bei unser haus

"Morning At Our House" (for those that are completely NOT bi...)

knockin' things off the To-Do List

I have lists everywhere.... and here I thought I was so organized because I make lists. Doesn't help much if you have dozens of little papers here and there all with your jottings on them....

I should have brought the returns bag with me this morning... since I'm halfway to the next town where they need to go back. Ah well.

I'm here at work. I've printed off loads of flyers, pamphlets, attendance sheets, new schedules... more to do... but my Starbucks, venti, skim, white mocha, no whipcream, cup is empty.

I arrived early, got the front parking spot, and then walked to the square for my morning beverage! I'm thinking of walking back up there for a refil and also a stop at the office supplies store. I could use some more wall folder holders here for all the info I need the students and parents to have!

Finally, I've uploaded, organized and ordered my photo book from our '03 Germany trip! It'll be on the way by the end of this week! Yay!

Patches need to be ordered, perhaps a rubber stamper with our logo as well.... Oh, and I need to make up a handout for all the kids to get them in our parade next month!

... and clean the guest house as well......... ohh, and stock up the pantry!

back to it.....

Different Levels

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” (Chinese Proverb)

Listening to all the voices in my head is a difficult and lifelong pursuit, particularly as the voices change so often, some dropping out, new ones appearing seemingly from nowhere. It's a noisy rabble, each voice trying to sway the others to their opinion, each loudly outlining their idea of the best course of action in a given situation.

It's a wonder that I ever get anything done at all...

“Those who dance are thought to be quite insane by those who can not hear the music.” (Unknown)

What Gloom?

No gloom here, life doesn't get any better than this! I mean, consider the alternatives...

I think we've got to measure our lives more along dog's lives. They wag their tails EVERYDAY! They are always happy to see us, happy just to be with us, following us around, up the stairs and down again--even when they have no idea what in hell we're doing, going up and down all those stairs. They don't care. Life is good.

We all have our darker fears... consider today good when those fears DON'T come to pass. Enjoy what sands of time you find in your hands today, 'cause it's slipping away, it won't stop, won't even slow down.

It just doesn't get any better than this!

gloom

hmmm.

Ya, I've been in a gloom. Ok Kurt, Friday was definitely PMS. I knew the foul mood I had 2 weeks ago was nothing more than the grumpies. This is pms. It's started raining last Thursday, and hasn't stopped, but for a couple hours Sunday. It will continue to be gray and raining through this Thursday. Oooh, man, the mosquitos will be bad this year....

But the weather matched my mood quite well on Friday. So I decided at noon that my work was finished, and I'd sit on the couch with my dog, a good book and a glass of wine. My mood certainly picked up after a few hours! And, I suppose we just perpetuate her misguided thinking that she's a lapdog.... but she kept me company!

We spent the rainy weekend cleaning the guest house for our German friends, who'll be here in 11 days! We took 3 full, van loads of crap to the good will to donate, we moved all the foam padding rolls that we've been storing to another shed.... Really, the place looks much better. And, you can walk in there! It's great to have the floor space back! Still, plenty of tidying up to do over there... but we do have 11 days!

Mother's Day found Kurt and me in the hottub at dawn, and out for breakfast with the whole family before the rest of the town was even waking up!
More of the same, relaxing, cleaning... oh, and of course, Mother's Day beer! We stopped at the liquor store to pick out a couples of bottles each ... some fun beer. Kurt picked Double chocolate stout and Hen's Tooth, both very yummy ales from England. Of course, I had to try a couple new weizens! Very tastee indeed!


And now, I'm still wide awake. Oh man, I'm going to be hurting in a few hours when my alarm rings off.... But, I figure as long as I'm awake, I may as well get some work done on the computer... perhaps I'll have a moment for a little nap tomorrow anyways.... hmmmm...

In the coming weeks I may be scarce around here... what with cleaning, working, home-schooling, and organizing events and meals for our upcoming guests....

So, back to work uploading more Germany pics so I can have an album printed out and here when our friends arrive.... and searching the site for the California law thingy that has to do with our work situation.... sigh... Kurt, I just can't find it yet..... any ideas where it's mentioned???

G'night!

Too much...

I don't contribute for months at a time and suddenly I'm taking up too much space. OK, OK, I get a little long winded at times... Sheesh, there's no pleasing some people.
So... no words, just multiple logos today...




The Superman is from the new movie... the rest are my own re-creations.
Kurt

D

There! But I put it on crooked - that won't drive me too nuts!

gah.....

Brain Chemistry

We exist primarily through our own illusions of continuity. Our sense of self and sense of "being conscious" is just brain chemistry at work. It's all an illusion, and not a particularly good illusion, either. If you're patient and observant, it's not too tough to see through the cracks of the facade.

For example... how many things can you think about at one time? One? Two? Three? Many? The way our lives often work, "one" is the easy answer. It's a serial world in many ways, things happen in a nice linear order. I suspect that dogs really are this sort of linear creature, cats, too. They really only CAN think of one thing at a time.

People? We've got "grouping" tricks and the like. Think of red. Think of blue. It's not too hard too imagine a pattern of alternating red and blue either. But, at that point, are we really thinking of two things (red AND blue) or just thinking of one thing: the pattern of red/blue? Try it with numbers or faces... can you really think of two faces at once?

With practice... you can. Don't group, don't think "crowd". Don't think of a picture with two faces in it. Think of two faces. Why bother? 'Cause if you watch how you get there, you can see the holes in the illusion of continuity. We DON'T think continually... we are NOT just ONE identity. We flow through all sorts of changes constantly (including complete stops!) - we just fool ourselves into thinking that "we" exist. We're nothing but chemical and electrical reactions, there's no continuity! Most of the time, there are MANY chemical and electrical events taking place, many thoughts that you have simultaneously. But we fool ourselves into thinking that it's all linear, it all happens sequentially.

PMS. Believe it or not, it's a sort of gift to women that men don't have. Sort of. Basically, women's thinking, on a fairly regular cycle, becomes heavily influenced by hormones (or lack thereof). They become crabby, distant, overly emotional... all sorts of changes that truly vary from individual to indvidual. BUT, the key here is realizing that it's the chemical soup that's changing the thoughts. From the "inside", the thoughts seem real, the emotions genuine. From the "outside" the behavior has changed, the thoughts make no sense - or perhaps some sense but so out of character that we on the outside are left scratching our heads. The point here is it's NOT just women that go through this. And it's not just "that time of the month" that it happens. It happens to ALL of us, ALL the time. We just gloss over it. We think differently one day, we're angry for no discernable reason the next. Some days we're happy for no particular reason. Some days a book or a movie will leave us in tears... while another viewing may cause us to wonder how anything so stupid ever touched us at all.

Brain Chemistry at work. Look through the cracks. Listen to ALL of the voices in your head, realize that you not only can but DO think dozens of thoughts all at the same time. Don't pawn it off with the buzz word "sub-conscious"! All of these thoughts are accesible. Don't pretend that "you" are "you", immutable and unchanging, master of all that you think about. A little more of this chemical, a little less of that... and you're a whole new person, thinking differently, feeling differently, being differently.

And that's what diets can do to one's brain. They aren't bad, they aren't good. But they certainly can point out the disconnects, the holes in the illusioned whole.

At least, that's MY excuse for being so crabby of late!

Overheard last night, 10:32 pm

"Do you need any help over there?"

"Some might say, I need a lot of help......I'm trying to get my pillow just right"

Tossing and turning, punching down my pillow, brushing the sand off my side of the bed, pulling the pillowcase tight or it tickles my nose when I'm trying to fall asleep..... Funny, the pillows are never an issue at 6am, when I'm struggling to get out of bed... I'm plenty comfortable then. Just turning off my brain so I can fall asleep... that seems to take forever.... wondering if 104, (after a sugar of 41, dangerously low just a half hour earlier) is high enough to let myself fall asleep.... she doesn't wake up anymore when she's low... she used to wake up from a sound sleep not feeling well, and knowing enough to test her sugar.... Now, the past 3-4 nights, she's been in the 40's... and sleeping through.... It's scary. I could never go to sleep without testing her a final time 'round 10pm.... just knowing what could happen.

Anyways.... I still tossed and turned, woke up 3 different times... once hearing the mouse bang around downstairs.... freakin' vermin. We need a cat, and soon! Another time after having dreams of Australopithecines.... Fascinating books I picked out from the book store yesterday! I just love history books, and I especially love the private lives, the inside look at all these people from the past! I'm a history nut! Doesn't everyone dream of early humans?! These are the 2 books I picked out! Excellent bedtime reading!


This one also caught my eye... but thought, 'next time, I already have 2 for today!' Glad I didn't get it.... it's in Kurt's library! Wheee! That will be the next up!

Time for some house cleaning... cousin M, my aunt and mom are coming for a visit today...

Staying Healthy

We find ourselves these days as suddenly being part of the
"exercise movement", part of the "American Businesses Dedicated
to Keeping People Healthy While Parting Them From The Hard
Earned Cash That They'd Just Otherwise Foolishly Spend On Junk
Food And DVD Collections of Television Shows From The 90's."
We have a goal, a mission in life! And it's about being healthy,
getting exercise, eating right...HEY! That's not a DONUT there on
your desk IS IT? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING SITTING
DOWN??!! If you're going to waste your life getting fatter and
weaker, at least stand up while you surf and browse!

Aaak! Just look at us! We're the spitting image of what you'd
expect to see when you think "karate school owners", right? Trim
and slim, able to leap tall buildings in a... oops. Sorry. That's my
other obsession. Where were we? Oh yeah, GET BACK UP, NO
SITTING AND READING!

Needless to say, this whole diet thing does amazing things to the
brain chemistry as well as causing the pounds to melt off. Well, not
exactly melt off. And not exactly "pounds" in the plural either. Let's
just say those extra fat cells are at least getting a good scare if
nothing else. Sure, in time, we'll relent and feed them the healthy
diet of chips and beer that they are used to, but here in Pre Shorts
and Swimsuits Season they're gonna suffer at least a little! Why
not? WE are!

But... owning a karate business means not wanting to overhear:
"My karate teacher? Yeah, the fat guy, leaning on the wall, with the
jelly donut over there..." So, no more jelly donuts, Seattle Sutton is
the new Goddess! Onward and...er... downward! At least as far as
the scale is concerned. Personally, I think at least half of the weight
gain I've had over the past few months is the collection of cob webs
gracing the scale, everybody knows how much a hefty cobweb can
weigh, right? RIGHT? DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY
MISTER... and not too close to my feet or I might not be able to see
you...

a gardening weekend

A busy weekend, much of Kurt's hard work, and my handiwork... and we have a water garden that looks quite respectable! Our lawn is cut, weeds in most of the upper garden are gone, weeds in the tulip gardens are.... um, well, mostly gone. We have 6 new pots of brilliant, purple petunias scattered about our deck walkways.... I still have 6 more pots to fill... perhaps some deep red geraniums and something else will look nice... our waterfall and ponds are cleaning and running again! The lilacs are starting to bloom and smell oh, so wonderful. The redbud tree has a lovely display of purple flowers.... and there are no mosquitos yet! Indeed, May is the best month 'round these parts... with September pulling in a close second!


Later when the sun is up and shining on the flowers just so, I'm going to go out and make some macro shots of the orange/pink tulips and the purple flowers... it's mandatory, it seems... everyone is taking lovely, upclose shots of their gardens lately! heh

A little break in the shade... and our German Shepherd/Lab puppy thinks she's a lap doggie! hee hee.... and she's OH-So happy when papa obliges her whims!

See her smiling?!!

Oh, and quite possibly the weirdest event of the weekend.... an unknown person, driving a light blue little car pulled up our driveway and dropped this off. We have no idea who it was.... the kids just saw the car pulling away.... nobody called to say, "hey, did you get it?" ....


just plain weird... it's still in the driveway.... I s'pose we'll just leave it there until trash day....

Sunday, while K was off biking with a friend in another neighborhood... the 4 of us went out for a snack to our favorite little restuarant by the river.... the kids had ice creams, we had the adult version of ice cream... a cold beer!

After a hard day of garden work, and the kids tucked in bed....we enjoyed a soak in the hottub on the porch....
...sure it's blurry...sigh, I turned off the flash, trying to catch the dusk mood.... ;)

Today it's shopping day for sure, because I didn't go at all last week.... and the cat is stalking me because I haven't fed her since long ago, last night.... mustn't forget cat food.....

And thus, the week is off and running........

Memory and Identity

Identity is a funny thing. Memory's just as funny. We all get so busy in the details that we lose track of the bigger picture. I think that's why we do things like blog and take photos and the like. It's all for memory enhancement. Afterall... without memory of who we are and what we've done, we don't exist. Total amnesia would be death. Or, perhaps, re-birth as you'd have to learn everything all over again. And, you'd no more be "you" the second time around than an identical twin would be you.

Memory = Identity

One day I want to write a science fiction story in which the protagonist, in a quest for immortality, figures out a way to analyze his own deepest memories, everything that has contributed to who he is today--and devises a way to upload it all into a very sophisticated computer system. The result? He looks around after the upload, after putting "himself" into the computer... and nothing appears to have changed. All systems are go, but "he" is still in his own body, he has not gained any immortality, he has not transferred into the computer system. He says, "All that work... and I've failed!" And the computer says,"No I didn't...and why are you still here...?"

Memory = Identity

And, last night I thought I had nothing to say

Ha, ha... as if!

First things first..... I have to give a shout out to my little bro!
"HEY!"
Congrats are in order as he graduates this weekend!!
Way to go Dr. Hansen, well, that's fun to write!!! A great accomplishment! I'm proud of you!!!!
A shot of us from a few summers ago....


Next, we're doing lots of cool things at work... working on promos, ordering new logo shirts... lots of fun changes... always! Some frustrating things as well amoung our own.... seems some of the 'branch' schools are again leaving.... but that's all belt rank games, pure nonsense. I do want to put together a letter something to that effect. I have to take my time, or it comes across too female, read, bitchy. I forward all my emails to the staff on to Kurt first.... so he can edit them, make my thoughts more sane, flow better! hahaha. Well, along that line... there are some stirrings, some changes in the pipeline that only Kurt and I are privy to. Although, we've spoken a bit about it with one of our instructors. Now, in hindsight, we probably should have kept mum about the situation.... sigh. Ah well. Never a dull moment at work, that's for sure!

Well, today's my day off from karate stuff. Time to recharge me! I'm spending more time at work... taught 3 classes and took 3 classes this past week... as well, as parked in the office at school for more of the evenings. We still need more organization at home. With me gone a lot last evening... the kids and school stuff didn't get organized. We barely made it to the bell this morning at school, because hair wasn't brushed to my satisfaction, we didn't like what was on the school lunch menu today, our project bag needed one more thing in it, and K-W needed to bring a certain book and rock to school too.... and after all that, I arrive back home and find little cee left her assignment notebook here.... that will cost her reward, free time this afternoon and put her in a crappy mood when she arrives home. Oh Joy!... not..... Really, lunches need to be made the night before, chores done, showers taken, clothes laid out, backpacks packed, table cleared off after meals.... wet laundry put into the dryer.... (now I have to run that through through the rinse cycle again...) hmmmmmmmpppph.

The organization will come. I suppose I'm getting better at not panicking when things like this go awry.... no harm done, the kids still got to school, semi-put-together, and food in their bellies.... so we didn't study for our spelling test last night.... what's the big deal?!

Good grief! Another week flew by.....

möglicherweise schneller

It's probably faster to drive into town, use the DSL at work, and drive home, than it is to sit here and waste the day away waiting for page after page to load....

I brought my banking in to work yesterday. After my class I zipped through the stack of bills in what would have been well over 30 mins to finish on dial-up.

Boy did I wake up sore today... stiff muscles and all. Yoga on Tues, Kurt's karate class last night. Hmmm, one out-of-shape lady here.

Well, today I have a lot of work stuff to get done, so nothing much exciting here.

Trotzdem, ein Foto von meine neue Baby....!

;)

I just love eBay

FOUND!!!! For my new ride!

Eeeeeeeee! heh, heh!

;)

Mama's got a new ride!!

...14 thousand and 1 PT Cruiser later I have some new wheels! Hard to tell here... but it's the icy blue color.... enhhh... not my first choice, but it was the only one on the lot that met my specs.... which were, nothing fancy, no extras, 7 seats and a good low price!

This is what I got!

I'm pleased.

Oh, now all that's missing is my "D" sticker for my back bumper.... must get another one!

=)

New car

Only 9 miles.... well, not anymore! heh heh... I have 63 on there right now....

...and Mmmmmmmm, can you smell that good, new car smell??!!! Breathe deeply!! Ahhhhhh

Bras

Frustrating to say the least. It's no wonder I absolutely HATE wearing bras. But, you know, when you are going to church for your kid's First Communion, and wearing a sheer, white blouse... I s'pose a bit of modesty is called for.

I wandered around and around the ladies underwear section, 3, 4 times at this store Sunday morning. EVERYTHING, yes, everything had wires in them. That is just wrong. How can every woman out there find underwire bras comfy. No way. And then, there was not a single bra that was just fabric, all had a roll of foam included.

I don't want wires.... ok, I don't need wires. No support needed here.
I don't want padding. Perhaps I could use a little padding...nah, I like the nipple look, don't cover me over with pillows.
And of course, if you are a size 40, you cannot possibly have the 'A' cup size.....

Insane. Frustrating.

Then, I go browse the sports section... thinking a camisole-type, mild cover-up is what I'm looking for..... No such luck here.... they are all so ultra tight.... I think it would squeeze me completely flat.... Nope. Those sports' bras are meant to keep the big girls in line.....

I was so disgusted at the lack of selection.... it finally dawned on me, I probably needed to shop in the little girls' area.... sigh. Of course, none of them have a 40 inch chest, and I'd end up with pink teddy bears on my training bra..... or lacey undershirts.... GAH!

So, I'm on the hunt!

Oooh, here's a nice one.....