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.

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

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.

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.

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.


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.

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.

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.