split personalities

i've returned home. sort of. i've gone back to wordpress. back to transplantingme.com. part of it is i like wordpress better, and part of it is there's lots of history at transplantingme.

but... i'm not totally leaving here. just refocusing. i've still got plenty of crazy to leak.

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potluck - the fourth of july kind

it's monday and time once again to join in on holly's potluck.


yesterday we went to the local vfw 4th of july celebration. our cost of admission - 1000฿ or $30 for 3 of us - included all you can eat bbq - real beef hot dogs (thai hotdogs are nasty and made out of questionable meat product), ribs, burgers, potato salad, onion rings, etc... now in order to get our "free" bbq we - and by we i mean me - had to stand in a really, really long line.







they came up with a way to fix the waiting in an unbearably long line problem. and it involved making four separate lines. and those of us who'd made it to the very, very front and had plate in hand and even had managed to get a hotdog on that plate were sent shuffling. and ended up at the tail end of one of those four separate lines. where we got to wait 2 more hours for 1 rib. 1 single rib. the end. except, when i went to get in the new and improved rib line #3 ate the hot dog.



chronic fatigue syndrome. when i entered the symptoms sore feet and sweating dr. google diagnosed me with chronic fatigue syndrome. and, after today, this one seems close. but i think leaving off the chronic and the syndrome part would be a more accurate diagnosis.






i'm taking some liberties here... instead of what's in my fruit bowl, i'm gonna tell you about some of the fruity things we saw at our thai-influenced 4th of july celebration.














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and we're back

our internet has been down for what seems like an eternity. and it took twice that long to get someone out to the house to fix it. they're diagnosis - we pay for 8mb speed and only 2mb speed is available in our neighborhood. so we jammed up the line. it took several months for the line to jam up, but finally it happened. and for days i called the adsl hotline. and chose to push 2 for english. because my techno thai isn't all that. and then i was put on hold. for just a second until i was disconnected. we did make a few trips out of the house for necessities and the like. and on one of those trips we made our way to the tot office. where they promised our internet would be up in 1 hour and in our 2 1/2 years here we've come to understand that 1 hour means they're not gonna do anything. which is exactly what happened.

and then i made a break through. i chose to push 1 for thai. and i listened closely. and managed to get through the thai language gauntlet and talk to a real live person. who spoke no english. but i persevered and got the promise of a technician coming to the house. and when that didn't happen the kids and i visited a different tot office. and i talked to the right person this time. because she told me the adsl hotline secret - for when we have another problem. and she also got me in touch with a technician. who appeared at our house this morning. and fixed our internet. after clearing out the clogged up lines. i guess 6mb of extra speed over several months makes quite the mess.

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synchronized swimming or something like it. maybe.

last week we went for a family swim. all five us. which is practically unheard of.


one of us is a total stick in the mud totally unimpressed.

it's a good time of year to be swimming. because the thai schools are in session - which means we had the pool to ourselves. and when we've got the pool to ourselves we discover our children have a hidden talent. at least the two that aren't a total stick in the mud totally unimpressed.


opening with a wai - how very thai of them.


peace to all.


stop.


go there.


we said stop.


preparing for the grand finale.


the end. you may now applaud.

they spent minutes working hard on this. and had to stop and restart about a gajillion times to get it perfect. in the end it was totally worthy of two thumbs up.


turns out #1 does have a special talent after all.

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naked no more

saturday morning i got my braces off. and my mouth felt weird. odd. naked. good.


i left the orthodontist office with freshly clean teeth and set out in search of sticky candy, popcorn and peanuts. the things i wasn't supposed to eat, but now could. (okay, so i totally ate popcorn and peanuts with the braces on, but always felt a little naughty doing it. now i could do it with a clear conscience.)

sunday i had a lovely anniversary dinner with the man. made all the more romantic because i wasn't having to dig food out of my braces and make sucking sounds and all that stuff that's really attractive. and then we saw a movie. killers - i enjoyed it, the man didn't so much. but i had more popcorn. cuz i could.

monday i had a great lunch with some great girlfriends (see, i am making progress) and headed home to pick up #2 so i could get to my follow up appointment and #2 could get her braces adjusted. my follow up appointment included getting my retainers. and being the thorough person that i am, i had no idea of what instructions might come with my retainers. like the one that goes wear them 24/7 for 6 months. and after 6 months wear them every night and every other day. and after that. wear them every night for the rest of my life. and i'm fairly certain that the ones made for me are made out of like 7 guage wire. because they are big. i remember making retainers out of paper clips when i was in elementary school - because i thought they were so cool and i had to have me some. turns out, i was wrong.




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potluck - making up for lost time



i know, i'd just gotten on board the potluck bandwagon when i got derailed. (do bandwagon's get derailed?) but i'm back. bigger and better and more (or less) random than ever. and with fewer buttons. because i'm just that lazy.



so, what's in my fruit bowl? nothing. but it is a brand new fruit bowl that the man brought back from the philippines. i'm still trying to decide just how i feel about it.










the man and i just celebrated our 18th anniversary. and look what he got me. it's sort of awesome. and i am hang it outside our bathroom.












this was given to the man. it was a thank you gift for the time he spent teaching in the philippines. i haven't yet figured out where we're gonna build the shrine to the man. so this hasn't found it's permanent home.







does she feel as bad as she looks? probably worse. in the past week she's been diagnosed with a displaced patella. she's been spayed. she's been groomed. she's been run over by a motorcy. both wheels. whomp. whomp. right over her torso. we're still not 100% sure of how she's doin'. we think okay. but we're observing her at home for a few more days. and if things don't turn around they'll be observing her at the animal hospital.





since i live in a cross cultural setting i've determined that the word i choose each week (or each week that i choose a word) will be a word not normal to the american venacular. this week it will be....

gutted

adjective: upset, disappointed. British slang.


and remember, this is a blog hop. anyone can join.



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up and down and up and down

the week before school got out i found a righteous deal on the one thing every adult wishes they'd had as a kid. (i could be projecting what i wanted on to every other adult in the world, but i don't think so.) i bought a used new-to-us trampoline! which involved the man making a trip to the american consulate (cuz i bought it from a consulate family) to disassemble it. just so happens the grounds of the consulate are a no picture zone, and since they took the camera (and his cell phone) away from the man when he entered the compound we're such great American citizens we've got no before the man put a finger on it pictures.

but we do have pictures of the putting back together of the trampoline.


the beginning of a man trap - ha, ha. i crack myself up.


up until now it was easy going. but the actual trampoline part. hard work.


i'm not exactly sure why i was on the trampoline, but this is a picture of the man and #1
encouraging me to dismount the trampoline by doing a forward flip. it didn't work so well.

this is as forward as my flip got.


the safety net. which, on his very first jump, #1 managed to slightly destroy.

the kids and a few friends wasted no time at all breaking it in.

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alive and kicking

i am alive and i am well. i'm not taking a personal summer break. the comments and emails asking about me made me feel good. and missed. and that's a really nice feeling. so thank you everyone who inquired. thanks bunches and bunches.

so, what has been up with me? not much. no good excuse for the absence other than i feel sort of like she looks -



she's looking miserable because she was spayed today. i don't have any such excuse.

what's caused me to take this little dip into the summer doldrums? well, i haven't put this into words, because i'm really, really, really trying to be okay with it. but the man and #1 are headed to the states this summer - for a month. the rest of us are staying here. in thailand. the place where we can't buy bras or shoes - both of which i'm in desperate need. (thank God for the internet and the man's willingness to haul my intimate wear back with him.) i've planned a beach vacay for the rest of us - where i'm sure we'll have a great time, but this little get away doesn't happen until the very last week that the men are in the states. so it's still a long haul between now and then. thankfully, the man is in town until they leave. he'll be doing some work for the thai office, but he'll be home every night and weekend (all 2 of them - which is better than none.)

and it seems the rainy season is trying really hard to become official. we've had several days of rain and some lovely cool nights. (75 degrees - that's frigid!) i've actually been sleeping with a blanket. it's very possible that a few nights of not going to bed in wet pajamas will make me a much happier camper.

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school's out for summer... wait, no it's not

there are three and one-half days of school left. but, as we all know, they are fake days. days that have to happen because the school year has to end, but grades have already been turned in so any work that's done isn't gonna be graded. which drives me bonkers. i hate busy work. hate it. with a passion.

but, to be fair, it is all over for #1. he had his last final today and only needs to return to school to retrieve his final report card. #2 is left with only field trips. 3 days of field trips and one half day of p.a.r.t.y. and it's nice to see that their teachers are not propagating the the-last-week-of-school-is-a-real-week-of-school lie. but for #3, the lie lives. he's got a regular ol' week coming up. with "maybe a few quizzes" (so he says). but, i'm starting to think that maybe #3 has it all figured out.





seems they were only looking for some kindlin' to start a good marshmallow roasting fire.
good cover story, don't ya think?

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lost my appetite

a few weeks ago, for the happiness project, i posted a picture of the koi in our pond. because i liked them. they made me happy. (notice the past tense.)



well, on monday, i'd been out gallivanting around and when i came home i discovered our house help's husband had gotten all industrious. he'd decided the pond needed a good cleaning out and maybe a paint job. he had the fish in a big trash can where they seemed to be happy. and i had assumed (yes, assumed. i know. and now i have an answer for when someone asks, "you know what happens when you assume, don't you?" well, yes, yes i do. fish die.) that the water in the trash can was the water from the pond. but turns out it was fresh water straight from the tap. chlorinated water. deadly water. (but that discovery comes later. and isn't made by me.) so p'khao (the husband) asks what color would i like for the pond to be painted - he's leaning towards blue. how would i feel about blue?

i'm not a huge fan of blue. and this particular shade of blue doesn't strike me as pond friendly. so i suggest white. he asks me several time if i'm sure that i want white and every time i say yes, i'm sure. white is what i want. white, white, white. only, i wasn't saying white. (it's an easy mistake, they are close in sound and i was feeling pressured.) so off p'khao went in search of the paint i'd asked for. only he wasn't sure i was right about this color choice, so he made an executive decision. (which is something i'm not so sure the hired help should feel so comfortable doing, but in this case, it was a very, very good thing.) and chose a very nice teal-y blue. he got the pond about half way painted on monday. so the fish were left in the trash can for the night.



the next morning (yes, this is when the discovery happens) #2 and #3 wander out to check on the fish. and they make the discovery that the fish, they are dead. tragic thing to come upon before you've made it out the door to school. i'm not home on tuesday to see p'khao or p'jim, so no discussion about the fish happens. but today there are big apologies. and heart felt don't-worry-about-its all around. i assure them that i hold no ill will. that it really is okay. and it takes me a bit to convince them to not replace the fish. that the kids want to go pick out new ones.

and so, as they are leaving. they bring me a special lunch. a we-feel-so-bad-we-killed-your-fish-and-we-want-to-do-what-we-can-to-make-it-up-to-you special kind of lunch.



i haven't been able to eat it. i'm thinking of saving it and serving it to the kids for dinner tonight.

lost that lovin' feelin'

when we first moved to thailand thailand loved me. big pink puffy heart loved me. and it showed me the love in the most amazing way. not with diamonds nor chocolates nor any of those frivolous things. nope thailand showed me it's love with weightloss. without dieting, without excercise, without even thinking about it. the weight came off. lots of weight. and it was amazing! absolutely amazing.

but alas.

it seems the honeymoon is over. thailand no longer loves me like it used to. and apparently thailand is no longer interested in making the effort. and the weight. well, as they say, what comes down must go up - or something like that. since i've noticed the lack of attention i've been getting from thailand i've turned up the charm. i've done all that i can think of to woo thailand back. (and i have no idea how you woo an entire country, but i've given it my best.) i know that thailand has had some distractions. what with protests and riots and being on the brink of civil war and all. but it's been several days since they broke up the shindig in bangkok, so i've come to the conclusion that this relationship is over. and i'm gonna have to stand on my own two feet and do something myself. (that is if i want something done.)

i'm working on a plan. a plan that i'm certain will involve several steps. the first one is to quit drinking cokes. not too painful. the second one will be to work out. for real. and who knows what steps might follow. we'll see. but please, thailand, can you try to love me just a little. i don't know how much love it will take for

  • give up pretty, fancy coffees
to not be one of the steps. but for all that is good and right. please. i'm begging. have a little mercy.

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the happiness project #5

the rules:

  • simply post a photo of something that makes you wildly happy.


favorite color - orange. favorite flower - gerbera daisy.


Photobucket.


that time of year

i know not long ago i posted about my general friend making suckiness, but i've taken steps - or maybe it's better worded to say others have taken steps - to help me make progress in friend making endeavors. and it's good. and i'm in a much better place. but you know how it goes, for every two steps forward you take one step back. over the next few weeks it's gonna begin to feel like i live in a ghost town. and we're part of the skeleton crew that's to be left behind. (which could possibly mean that friend making will go easier. options are limited and my hand waving high in the air while i squeal "pick me, pick me" won't be so easy to ignore.)

school break is upon us and it's time for furloughs and home visits. and then the summer will drag. 3 of #3's closest friends are going to be going. one for good, one for 6 months and one for 8 weeks. #2's closest friend will be gone for 8 weeks. i haven't heard what's going on with #1's friends, but seeing as how many of his friends are thai, it's possible he'll have a few more options. the thai schools just started their term, so there are no summer activities to be had. no camps. no summer movie spectaculars. not even vacation bible school this year.

midway through the break #1 and the man will head to the states for a month. which is good and bad. good because it means we can stock up on a few necessities - like shoes to replace the shoes that one of the dogs has eaten. and bad because there will be the jealous feelings of those of us who aren't headed to the states.

but for now, we've just got to get through the next 7 1/2 days of school. (there's a holiday thrown in there, because there's no way we could make it to the end without some kind of break.) actually, it's only 7 1/2 school days for #3. for #2 it's 4 days of school and 3 days of field trips. and for #1 it's 4 days of testing and then he's done.

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like a two year old

so, i'm thinking that yesterday the red shirts were throwing a temper tantrum. because today has been quiet. we're still under curfew, but no bam-bam-bangs to be heard. i can smell something burning nearby and traffic is being diverted through our neighborhood from the main road closest to us. thai schools are closed tomorrow, but our kids' school will be open. i think it's easier to make decisions to close campus when it's the first week of school - which is what it is for the thai kids. finals week is next week for our kids and it's difficult to miss days. #3's class has a field trip tomorrow. i'm not sure how i feel about that. it's probably perfectly safe, but i'm still a little nervous about it.

i'm trying not to be all worst case scenario and alarmist, but it's hard to not play what if. i'm praying that the worst is over, but i've read reports and heard people say that it's only really just begun.

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photos from this evening

don't worry, i didn't actually take any of these. if by take you mean leave my house with my camera. but, if you mean to take what isn't yours - then i definitely took these. but i asked.







all these photos were taken within a mile of our house

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