Culture Shock

Sometimes I wonder what it must be like for eric to be married to me. He is from the South (he doesn't like to say where), real debutante land. A place where woman have matching outfits, jewerly and handbags. He is in one place and only child, or the oldest of three by ten years. Shirts are tucked in, belts are worn and some things are just never talked about. Then he married me, a girl from a small town up North. I like the cold, building fires, the woods and playing in dirt. I come from a fairly large, very loud and while dysfunctional isn't right, it is safe to say our family does not fall into the typical tree shape. Depending who I am with I can either be an only child (for now), the oldest of two, in the middle of four and I used to sometimes be the youngest of three. See what I mean. We all talk at the same time and assume the others are listening while they are talking. Who ever is loudest or fastest gets the last word. We love each other very much, even if there is no reason to talk for months at a time and would do just about anything to support each other. And we make stuff, pretty much anything to be exact. If we need it, we make it. While I think eric thinks this is cool and was perhaps intriguing when he met me, I don't think he saw it through to his everyday life. This was evident by the look on his face this morning as he looked in the sink while making me coffee. (did I mention how much I swoon for him every morning when he makes me coffee??!!) Sitting in the sink was my deodorant container that I had just filled with the last of a batch of homemade deodorant. I was just waiting for it to cool enough so I could put it in the fridge to harden. Being the good sport that he is he rolled his eyes and laughed at me. He thinks I am a little crazy, and I probably am. But it's part of my charm, and that is why he fell in love with me. And the fact that he lets me paint, make, move, create to my hearts content is part of why I love him.

It makes me wonder, who will Otto and Mette choose to love? I know the thought is a bit far off and would scare eric to even think about it, but the question still lingers. Who will they be? Who will they love? What will define them? That is the amazing thing about babies and children, they grow up to be real people. It is kind of amazing.

Slow day in the E.R.

you read that right, we spent our quiet sunday in the E.R.. Well, actually is was really just Otto and eric, but still. Otto and Mette have both been sharing a cold for the past few days which really hasn't been too bad. We have been very lucky, all summer long we were cold free so I knew we had it coming. Saturday we did our best to keep the kids calm and enjoy a low key day. We went for a few walks with them in the stroller so they could at least enjoy the beautiful weather and get some fresh air. Saturday night Otto couldn't sleep because he couldn't stop coughing. This happens a lot when he gets colds, it happen to me all the time as a kid and my Dad as well. He comes by it honestly. In an effort not to have Mette wake up Otto came to bed with me and Eric slept on the couch in the library next to our room. At 5am when Mette woke up he went to comfort her and spent the next few hours of sleep in Otto's bed. It was available and is quite comfy. It has been a long time since eric had such a wild night of sleeping in three beds :) Otto didn't get any sleep during the night but did want to take a nap at 8 in the morning. We were all in favor. It wasn't until after his nap and he had some Motrin that he came downstairs. That was when I noticed he could hardly breathe and was wheezing like Darth Vador. We called the doctor, but of course since it was Sunday (the only time kids ever really get sick, well that or Christmas Day) they told us to take him to the E.R. Eric packed up Otto, Blankie, Baby Alligator, the iPad and his computer and off they went. Luckily it wasn't too crowded so they weren't there too long. They took chest x-rays to rule out pneumonia. It took three nurses, one of which was a large male nurse to hold him down for the x-rays. I'll let you guess how that went. They listened to him breathe a lot and determined that really all he had was a cold but it was triggering asthma which was why he couldn't breathe. They sent eric home with a nebulizer and lots of prescriptions. They also decided he had an ear infection and thought he needed steroids. The nebulizer is amazing, there is just no other way to put it. I suffered through many, many, MANY sleepless nights as a child sitting next to a vaporizer trying to breathe when I had a cold. It was terrible and listening to Otto cough all night every time he has a cold is equally as painful and sleep depriving. Before Otto went to bed last night he did a dose of the nebulizer and slept the entire night through without coughing once. It was a miracle as far as I am concerned. Now, as far as the making Otto breathe part it is amazing, but I have to say, a certain Cyprus Hill song comes to mind every time we turn it on. I actually found myself saying to Otto tonight, "try and suck in all the smoke and blow it out slowly". Not something I ever thought I would be saying to my three year old.

Despite all the drama on Sunday, both Otto and Mette seem to be doing well. Mette's cold has never turned into quite the extreme case Otto's was and he is already feeling MUCH better. In fact the hard part now is getting him to lay low. I took them both to the doctor today and she confirmed that he is doing well. She also thinks they thought he had in ear infection because he had been crying so much (remember the x-rays) because his ears looked fine today. We are still going to continue the antibiotics for a few days to be on the safe side, but won't do the full ten days. I also asked her about the steroids. Many of you who read this blog knew me 7 or 8 years ago when I was having a bad run with migraines. Turns out I am allergic to all the good migraine meds. I ended up having to do two rounds of steriods and it was not pretty. I gained 20lbs in 8 weeks, I was no joke crazy and mean. I twitched with energy, couldn't sit still and had to endure a constant sound track of circus music. It was not a good thing. You can imagine my great concern when they wanted to give Otto steroids. If they really were necessary I would do it, but I wanted to talk to our doctor before continuing the doses. Luckily she thought he was find and didn't need them because really, I can't think of anything much worse than a three year old on steroids.

Even though this weekend didn't really go like I had planned, I would still say it was a nice weekend. In fact, on Sunday after eric and Otto got home and the kids were down for their naps, I met a friend and we walked around a little antique mall a block away and spoke in complete sentences without kids. It was quite glorious. We even st0pped for grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries in the little diner there, complete with an Itty Bitty Hot Fudge Sundae. I love having pregnant friends. I even scored an adorable 50's love seat for $15!! Pictures to follow soon.

Alchemy, of the dairy variety

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been interested in making our yogurt. Good grief we go through a lot of the stuff lately. I was looking at yogurt makers, but the idea of another electric appliance to store and look at was more than I was interested in. I found people out in intertubluar land who sat theirs on a heating pad over night, but that screams fire hazard to me. Then I found a method where you just place the warmed milk in a cooler filled with other glass jars of hot water. This seemed like the low tech method I was looking for. When I showed Eric the first batch and told him how I did it he asked what else I was planning on making with my new alchemy skills. While he was impressed with the yogurt he couldn't help but add that if i really was doing alchemy, it might be more economical if i just made gold. I have to admit, it seems a bit magical, in a simple way, this making your own yogurt. And it is SO yummy.

To make this batch I heated one quart of milk to 185F. I have a cool thermometer that I use for roasts that has a probe attached to a electric readout with a long metal coil. This worked perfectly once I clothes pinned it to the side of the pot. Old school meet techie geek.





Once the milk reaches 185F you cool it to 115F. To do this I put the pot in a sink of cool water. The probe is still working wonderfully. Once it is cool you mix in 1/4 cup of starter. In this case I used store bought plain yogurt, next time I will just use some from this batch. Must remember to always save the last quarter cup.





The milk with it's yogurt added in is poured into a clean canning jar with a lid. Then the milk is put in a cooler with other glass jars which are filled with how water to help maintain the temperature. I ended up also adding one of those rice filled sacks you microwave to use like a heating pad because i wanted to make sure it stayed nice and snuggly.





It is supposed to stay around 110F for 6-10 hours. I tried it after 6 hours and it was lovely. I would say this was a success. We have been eating it with fresh peaches I cooked with a little vanilla. The weather is showing signs of fall, my favorite season and officially the start of granola season. I stocked up on rolled oats this morning :)





I thought I should add some shots of the canning I have been working on. This is some of what I did last weekend. The pantry shelves are really starting to fill up.











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Heck of a good idea

It seems like a lot for two pieces of silicone, but I really this this idea is genius. Why didn't I come up with it. Should we get some?

Canning

One of the reasons I have been a bit off with the posting is because I have been canning up a storm. On Saturday morning I picked up 4 cases of tomatoes. Each case is the roughly size of a box of copier paper. I spent all afternoon and a good part of Saturday evening working on the mound of tomatoes. I canned 8 quarts of whole peeled tomatoes and 8 pints of fresh tomato sauce on Saturday. I also froze 6 pints of roasted tomato puree and 6 quarts of crushed tomatoes. On Sunday I took a break from tomatoes and made 6 pints of bread and butter pickles. Then Monday determined to be done with the tomatoes I canned 6 quarts of roasted tomato sauce. I am hoping that holds us for the winter. It is going to be a little slice of heaven when we open those jars in December. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. I still want to do some more peaches this week while they are still around, then it will be applesauce time. I will probably just freeze the applesauce. My grandmother always did that, and I did it last year and it worked out really well. Once all this canning is done I am going to deep clean my kitchen. It has been wiped down and mopped many, many times in the past few weeks, but somehow it just seems a little sticky no matter what I do. I will post pictures of our bounty soon, but I needed a little break from all things tomatoes.

Eric's Phone

Eric's phone is cool. But that is not really what this post is about. Last night while looking at some very funny videos he took of the kids dancing to this (hands down our favorite song to dance to right now) I found a treasure chest of photos we had taken with his phone that never made it to the blog. His phone (iPhone 3GS) actually takes pretty decent pictures and there are many times when you want to take a picture but the camera isn't handy. Since eric always has his phone with him.... well you can figure out the rest. What follows here is a total mash up of late summer, but some great shots I had to share.

The first two photos are from the evening after Mette had her surgery. There was an event called "National Night Out" at the park in town. We thought it was going to be a small little thing with a firetruck and ambulance and maybe a medi-vac helicopter for the kids to see. We went because we thought Mette could chill in the stroller and watch what was going on and Otto would get a kick out of the firetruck etc... We had no idea there would be two live bands, a petting zoo, BMX and skateboard demonstrations, break dancing competions with people who could REALLY break dance, a zip line, free hot dogs, free snow cones, craft tents, give aways from every local organization, bouncy castles and slides and last but not least, both a medi-vac helicopter and a Black Hawk which flew in and landed right over our heads. It was insane to say the least. We ran into lots of friends and had a wonderful time despite it not being at all what we were expecting, it was so much more! It seems like something they do every year, you can bet we will be going again. The pool, which is right next to where all this is going on, is also open for free that night, just in case you got bored with everything else.

Otto was very excited to sit in the big helicopter and eric did not hesitate for even a second when Otto wanted him to sit with next to him.
These are some great shots of us on a Saturday morning jaunt to the orchard. The kids really love running around there, who can blame them?
Heading down in search of some white peaches, which I found. They were so delicious.
Mette is fast and takes off for the fields the moment she sees them.


This is the new deck that is coming right along at the cabin. Otto likes checking on Grandpa's stone work. Won't be too long before we can teach him how to mix mortar and backfill. Those were always my jobs. Well, I don't think I ever was really strong enough to mix the mortar, but I really liked playing with a trowel in the wet mortar. I remember making roads and smoothing it all out between bucketfulls.

It's just darn good light.

Where on earth does Otto get those eyebrows??? I mean really! This is a face he makes a lot. Eric took the kids to the neighbors to deliver some tomatoes. They seem thrilled!

Mette does not seem to be scared of dogs. She warms up to them pretty quick. Hugo is very gentle with her despite the fact that he is still a puppy himself. A fine way to play with a dog this size is to stick your arm in their mouth.
Dirt, a dog, a pickup truck, must be the cabin! Good times.
Mette was insistant that she could do the water guns just like Otto at Knoebels this year. She didn't get the concept of aim at all but seemed to have a lot of fun anyway.
The next three photos are an amazing triptych. The fact that eric took them with his phone makes them all the more amazing.


Summer time fun!

Hvad siger du?

Lately I really wish I could be in a place where they don't speak English. I find a certain comfort in having to figure out what is going on by paying attention and guessing instead of just listening. There is something mystical and of course mysterious to being able to let go of everything that is happening around you since, really you don't understand it anyway. I am sure I am feeling this way largely because my entire days are filled with constant narrations and questions from a three year old, interjected with 18 mo. old fragmented words and sentences. It is like being bombarded mentally all day. Otto needs questions answered and they are often good, real questions that you can't just leave hanging. Or, they are the same question he has asked over and over and over and over again. Mette is learning words and stringing them together at an amazing rate but it still takes great concentration, a good imagination and a leap of faith to put her words into phrases and stories. Enter the desire to escape. Sit in a cafe, on a crowded bus, stand in line and get lost in the sounds. Listening for repeating phrases and clues in inflection with the luxury of the time to let you mind bob quietly in a sea of sounds. I would like to again be in a situation where the exchange student mantra of "smile and nod" is all I need to get by. Alas, there is no such trip in the future but I suppose if I really am needing that kind of escape I could go hang out at the Amish stores outside of town. I understand just enough of what they are saying to be able to either eavesdrop or let it all wash over me.

Taboo

I am breaking the silence here and I really hope I don't regret it. Mette has slept through the entire night for the last THREE nights! Bed at 8 and up around 6:30. It is glorious though it has left the two of us a bit zombie like during the day. Keeping her awake until nap time has proven to a difficult task though it did pay well yesterday. I kept her awake until noon and she then slept for three hours. I am sure that won't happen everyday but it was a nice break. It only took 18 months, but she seems to have figured this whole thing out. Even better the students are starting to return this weekend which means a healthy crop of babysitters. With the kids going to bed AND sleeping, I actually think Eric and I could go on dates. Crazy!!! The idea of that is so exciting I even have someone coming Sunday morning for a meet and greet with us and the kids.


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Bountiful weekend

Saturday morning found us trekking down for our weekly trip to the orchard. Last weekend we got some grapes and I made my first ever batch of grape jelly. It turned out amazingly well and I was hoping to get more grapes this weekend to add to the stash and have enough to share with others. Last week we came home with two pounds of grapes and I made 6 half pints of jelly, this week we picked 8 pounds and I made 6 half pints of jelly and canned 3 quarts of juice to either drink or make more jelly out of. Plus, we have a pitcher of juice in the fridge for the drinking pleasure. It is so delicious. Normally I am not a huge grape juice fan but this is not like anything you would ever get at the store. Isn't that that case with so many things? If you can make it at home, it will taste so much better. In addition to the jelly, I canned 6 jars of peach jam and 6 jars of peach butter (like apple butter, but with peaches). I also have a batch of mushed peaches pre-measured for a batch of jam in the freezer. It is a little kit, just heat, add pectin and process. It was a busy place our kitchen this weekend. Eric was a huge help with boiling and skinning the peaches, a thankless job. He also washed many of the endless sink-fulls of dirty dishes. This weekend was good practice because I have four cases of tomatoes coming on Friday. Next weekend will be more of the same. And then there are nectarines, and apples..... I am bound and determined to preserve it all this year. The kids eat so much fruit which is wonderful but in the winter the pickings are slim. You can get crappy looking organic fruit at the supermarket that was shipped in from god knows where making you question how "green" it is. Or there are canned fruits packed with sugars and colorings. My goal is to make it through much of the winter eating what I put up. We can still get apples and pears during the winter, but now hopefully we have a bit of variety to add to that. I also made 2 quarts of bread and butter pickles this week. I think I will make a few more jars of pickles this week but I am not sure what kind to make.

We took some beauty shots of the grapes because it is just too pretty not too.





The grapes are crushed and cooked on the stove then strained while hot. The steam coming off the pink juice was beautiful. I should mention that the jelly I made is all natural and hot pink. It honestly doesn't look natural the color is so amazing. Eric is going to bring home a spot so we can backlight some and show you.


My homemade juice strainer, cheese cloth, clothespins, a colander and a stock pot. Works great!


Dinner was simple and straight from the garden, tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar, (as of yet I don't make my own vinegar, but I can see myself starting some time). Speaking of basil, I also froze two large containers of homemade pesto today, our basil plants are going bonkers!


It was a very productive weekend which is nice, but I think tomorrow I am going to sit and knit during nap time.

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So there

That settles it, I am going to make a sh$t load of jam this season and we (and by that I mean I) are going to start making our own yogurt. Rachel, I know you are in, anyone else? Be you near or far, let's do it together. That being said, I have never made yogurt before, how hard can it be? I am taking on all kinds of new culinary treats this year. Pickles, jelly, canned beets, next up yogurt and I am sure cheese will follow. I will start with pasteurized, but you know raw will follow.

Come on, join me. We can swap stories.

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Glee

And I don't mean the tv show.

Our children are lucky enough to have many wonderful grandparents, uncles and aunts in their lives. They are certainly not lacking for a loving extended family. Seeing them more often is really all we could ask for. For example, Uncle Matt. Uncle Matt walks on water in the eyes if Otto and now Mette. Partly because he is just plain cool and has the energy to play "steal the hat" all weekend, and partly because they only see him once or twice a year. He was here for a glorious weekend visit two weeks ago but I got behind on posting pictures with all the Mette business. Here he is in action....





Games like these would keep them both going for hours. Aside from tackling Matt there doesn't seem to much of a theme, but they all seem happy.


He also brought with him this adorable girl catcher, Enzo the puppy. (just in case you thought Eric was the girl catcher;) ) Enzo was a wonderful puppy to have for the weekend, he was great with the kids and they loved him. I took more pictures of him but none of them seem to capture how cute he really is.


We all had a wonderful weekend, we went to the mountains and picked blueberries with Hugo and grandparents. Enzo got to play with all of Hugo's tows which was fun for him and Eric and Matt took the Lotus our for a good spin. There is rumor he may come back for the Art of Ferrari weekend, fingers crossed.

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218-6

For the last 218 weeks that I have been either pregnant or nursing minus the 6 weeks between when Otto weaned and I got pregnant with Mette. (For the record, while I think it is cute when couples say "we" are pregnant, I think it is a bit strange. Eric fully admits that he wouldn't last more than two minutes being pregnant. I remember being pregnant very well and the entire time he did not look or seem to feel the least bit pregnant.) That is a long time. Over four years. Almost half of my twenties. Ok, when you put it like that it is a bit depressing. I have talked about Mette weaning before and it was starting to seem like it would never happen. Otto nursed until he was 13 months old and one day said, you know what, I am cool without nursing and that was it. He was of course also eating us out of house and home at the time. Mette didn't really start eating until the start of this summer, despite the fact that she started demanding food at 5 months. She wanted all of it, she just didn't want to EAT any of it. She is still a picky eater, but she now eats. She even drinks milk now which she wouldn't do before. Provided it is "bunny milk" which OMG I never thought I would allow that in my house, let alone let my child drink it every day. "Bunny milk" is strawberry Nesquick which I make very weak. She calls it bunny milk since it has a bunny on the can. I am hoping to wean her to just regular milk soon, but since she drinks it and likes it, I am going with it. It does have less sugar than chocolate milk and is fortified, but it also has food coloring. Seems a bit strange when I mix it with our organic milk, ugh. My goal at the beginning of the summer was to have Mette weaned by the end of the summer. At some point in June I was seriously thinking it would be Christmas before she stopped. She was still getting up more than once to nurse at night and was nursing two times, or more, during the day. Then she stopped nursing during the day except for bedtime and naptime. It also became obvious that she wasn't really nursing as much as using me as a pacifier. Then it all came to a halt. Her sleeping went from not great to horrible. She had a few days where she literally did not stop crying, she was so tired but just would not sleep. I didn't know what to do. She wanted to nurse all the time which I wasn't crazy about, especially since she really wasn't nursing as much as just sucking. Enter the PINK. Otto had a Nuk (pacifier) from day three. Once I saw how much it calmed him down I got over all my fears of nipple confusion and let him have it. He only got rid of it just before his third birthday. Mette went through a short phase of having one but quickly got rid of it. That was also fine. Until last month. Out of desperation as much as anything I bought her a cute pink pacifier at the store to try. At first it wasn't a huge hit, but then she started to want it. One day she took it, Bibi (the beloved blankie) Mun-key and curled up in my lap and fell asleep for her nap without nursing. Then she slept for 2.5 hours. And so began Mette's journey with a nuk. She calls it Pink. I immediately went out and bought more back-up Pinks. I am not dumb. We have tried others of the same kind that are just a different color and only in desperation will they do. Pink is Pink and there are no substitutes. So for the last week Mette was only nursing before she went to bed at night, for naps all she needed was Pink. I stopped nursing her in the night too. There were a few rough nights where Otto and Eric slept in the guest room and I slept in Otto's bed to remind Mette that I was there, she was ok, but she just needed to go back to sleep. And now, she sleeps through the night for the most part. She wakes up once or twice and calls out, if I go and, give her a Pink and just tuck her in she is back to sleep right away. Another week or two and we will stop that as well. She is also back to actually napping in the afternoon which makes her so much more pleasant which in turn make us all happier.

The end of it all was Tuesday night. She went up to bed with me and snuggled in my arms but did not nurse and just fell asleep. The rest of the week Eric took her up to bed and she just wanted to be snuggled into her bed and kissed goodnight. As long as she had Pink and Bibi she was set. Tonight I put her to bed without a problem. Being as she hasn't nursed since Monday night, I think we are done. WOW. 18 months and she is all done. It is great and liberating and sad all at once. I am more ready for this than I was for Otto, but still, it is the end of an era. She picked a hell of a week as it is World Breastfeeding Week. That is very Mette.

So there, I am a free woman. Eric said he thinks I should do a bunch of shots of Tequilla, drink a whole bunch of cough medicine and take some Excedrin Migraine. You know. all the things I have been wanting to do for 4 years. I am celebrating with not feeling guilty about a second or *gasp* THIRD cup of coffee and more than one glass of wine. The truth, I am now a total light weight. Guess I just have to work on that :)

FrankenMette

To be entirely honest, Mette doesn't look anything like I thought she would. The surgeon told us there could be a lot of bruising, her eye could swell shut. This is all she has....


Five clean little stitches. No bruise and no swelling. Don't take it the wrong way, I am very happy about this. But I can't help thinking a bit more drama would have made for a better photo shoot.


The stitches look like they are doing well. She doesn't seem to be bothered by them which is great. We go to have them taken out on Monday. Eric is in an all day conference that day, lucky him. I think I will find someone to watch Otto so he doesn't see his sister totally freak out which is what I think is going to happen. I don't remember much from pre-second grade, but I remember having 7 stitches removed from my head when I was not too much older than Mette.


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Location:Market St,Lewisburg,United States

Because my husband is cool

Companies like EFF hire him to do cool things like this..

did you see me?? did you, did you??

you have to look REALLY quick in the second video, Mette and I are in the crowd. Because, well frankly, I am sleeping with the director :)

Pre-Op

Today was Mette's big surgery. All went well thankfully and she is now asleep in her bed. We had two bats in the house last night (got to love old houses by the river) at 3:30 and I never got back to sleep so I will share the story tomorrow when I am less zombie like. I do however have some great shots from last night at the park and this morning,

We went to the park last night after dinner and Mette insisted on wearing sunglasses. Possibly the best look yet!





The girl can rock her fashion choices, that's for sure.




This is Mette all ready for surgery this morning. They gave her a "cocktail" to make her drowsy so she wouldn't care that she was being taking to the OR. It did the trick by making her pretty loopy. All she wanted to do was watch Backyardigans. Thank goodness for the iPad.


You can see the cyst over her left eye which they removed.


She has five stitches which will have to be removed next week. There is much less swelling and bruising than we expected which is nice. In fact she looks pretty good. The drugs that they use to put kids under has the lovely side effect of making them cranky until it is really out of their system a day later. Because of that i didn't take any pictures today post-op. I'll get some tomorrow when she isn't as mean :)


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Getting to Know you Q&A

I have been tagged! A fellow blogger and friend from school has sent me a list of questions to answer, after which I am to "tag" 5 lucky readers!!

1. What was your inspiration to first start blogging?

I started this blog when Otto was a teeny tiny little dude. In fact my father-in-law actually started it for me as I was still in the hospital. The first few posts is really him talking. It was originally called Otto's Odyssey, but when Mette came along we changed the name.

2. If there was a fire in your house, and you only had time to grab 4 things (excluding your family), what would they be?


Well, if there really was a fire I can not be sure I would be thinking clearly but I would for sure go looking for cats, then computers I guess, but we back them up all the time.... our important papers are in the safe.... hmmm I guess the kids blankies and special stuffed animals. Really, everything else is just a material possession. While I may like it, I don't need it. Beyond the family and cats what else do I REALLY need?

Edit- car keys. I am sure we could make new ones, but the interim would be a pain in the ass.

3. If income was not a factor, what would be your dream job?

I would love to design textiles, or maybe be a buyer for some Scandinavian department store. Or someone who tests 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts. maybe a personal shopper to a incredibly cool mega somebody, a midwife there is a long list jobs I would love to do. But saying all that, I am pretty happy to have the opportunity to stay home and take care of my kids and absent minded professor. Knowing full well I will have a chance to do all those cool jobs later in life :)

4. If money was no object, what would be the next house or decor project that you would tackle be and describe.

If money was no object I would have all the chimneys and parapets repointed, the house painted, a hot water heater and composting toilet installed in the carriage house and perhaps a bathroom out there too.... should I go on, because I totally could.

5. Name one place you've always dreamed of traveling to.

Pretty much anywhere. I really love to travel. I really want to see Japan, and Finland. Iceland is also top on my list, as well as Fuji. I would settle for a tour of all the Aman Resorts. We honeymooned here and now I feel like I should test out the rest. It was beyond amazing. There are no words to describe how perfect it was.

Tagees-

a) Post your answer to the 5 questions on your blog.

b) Ask 5 questions (can be your own or some repeats) I am sticking with these five to ask you. I have been up since 3:30 and don't feel capable of asking intelligent questions.

c) Tag a few other bloggers.

d) After you post your answers, come back and comment with a link to your post.

Tag, you're it!

Kristin@ mymanmax
Megan@ megansinnermonologue
Jenn@ jennanddave
Jen@ thepinktime
Rachel@ iwouldhavewrittensooner

In the morning

I just set the alarm for 4:50, a.m.. I really should be sleeping, but I can't. In the morning we are taking mette to the hospital for her surgery. She has to have a dermoid cyst removed from above her eye. It is nothing major and a very minor procedure but she still has to be put under. She will no doubt get a black eye and will have stitches for a week. There will be many "you should see the other baby" jokes I am sure. I am grateful that this is minor and planned. It was at this age when Otto had his emergency surgery (i cant hotlink from the iTouch but check the blog under may and/or june 2008 for the full story) at the same hospital complete with a night in the PICU. In contrast this will be a walk in the park. But it is still my little girl and doctors with knives and needles. I am guessing there will be some frenzied nervous knitting done by me tomorrow morning. I really must try to get some sleep.....


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New Reading

I have just a quick second but I wanted to point you to some fun reading. Good friends of mine are living a year of adventures and have a great blog sharing their journeys. She is an english prof. and he is a management prof here at Bucknell. They have three kids, a 10 year old boy and soon to be 7 year old twins, a girl and a boy. They started touring the U.S. while their house renters for the year moved in, they are now in Iceland and soon they will be in Barcelona for the rest of the year. So far the blog has been a great read and I feel like I should share it with you.

Check out the link in my blog roll.... or here.