we passed the crazy tests. all four of them.

so, bh snores. he snores and he stops breathing while he's sleeping. his doctor recommended him for a sleep study and our insurance, who does everything top notch, sent us a kit. which means, i'm running a sleep lab. bh says i'm not. even though i have been thoroughly trained - i watched a 5 minute video that taught me everything i need to know. and i have proof that i'm running a sleep lab, see...

see the little sleep study computer. it's on our handy, dandy night stand. (since we've sold all of our bedroom furniture, we're sleeping on a mattress on the floor and he must use a small appliance box for his night stand. there was nothing in my training that said this was frowned upon.) he also has the breathing monitor attached right up there under his nose. he has a chest monitor on, too, but it's under the covers. and a finger monitor. all of this is attached to his little wrist unit that is attached to the little sleep study computer. it's all legit. i've got to run this lab for 3 nights. then i pack up all the above listed equipment and send it to my esteemed colleagues who plug the little sleep study computer into a bigger computer to get the results. these guys aren't qualified to run a sleep study lab, only the highly qualified - like me - get to actually work with the patients.

my office is working under a bit of a time crunch. turns out january 10, the patient and his family could be leaving for their new home in a new country on a new continent. yes, i said we could be moving one week from today. if you remember the pictures i posted about our last moving sale - if not, they're here - the condition of our house isn't all that different at this moment. i think that means it's time to get busy.

one of the things that my kids think is pretty cool is the wide array of options for after school snack. when we walk out of the gate of the school this is what we see...

and here are some of their options...

so far my favorite is the tempura green beans.

what did i do for my birthday? #2 took me to a movie - her choice. it was all her idea and she paid for it. i was a bit skeptical, thought it might be dumb, but it turned out to be very cute. then came home to a surprise ice cream cake - and since it's colder outside than it is in the freezer it was on the porch to greet me. and what's the best way to have a little cake? like this of course...

and with whom? family and friends, including her...

there really were others, but i didn't take their pictures. only winey's. cuz i was too busy eatin' cake and drinkin' wine. and then the party really started. the man and i sat down and took out our pencils and winey proctored a test for us. cuz that's how we roll on birthdays around here. what test you ask? the mmpi-2. and i know i don't have to tell you what that stands for, but i'll tell you anyway - the minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-2. and any test that starts with answering true or false to "i like mechanics magazines" and ends 567 questions and 90 minutes later with "most married couples don't show much affection for each other" and includes the phrases "make talk" and "my people" - well, you know that's a good time.

i'm getting ready to sit down and take the mbti (myers-briggs type indicator), the version 2000 of the enrich questionaire, and the taylor-johnson temperament analysis. i know - sounds like way too much fun for new year's eve. the man has already done them and after i finish them we send them off to the counseling place and from all of this information they will be able to tell us just what kind of crazy we are - and if it's the right kind of crazy.

i wonder if it will bother them at all that question #59 on the mmpi-2 has a stain. what could possibly be, i mean there's just the slightest chance ever, that it's a very small wine stain? think that will affect our score?

for why are we doing this - the original post - go here.

bh and i have been talking alot about this move the past few days. everyone wants to know about it - so lots of the exact same questions which means lots of the exact same answers. and that's a good thing. it makes us think about it all. this move has caused an amazing amount of stress in our lives. at times it feels impossible. things keep getting thrown at us and it's just so unfair - there seems to be so much unknown information and the last minute hurdles that keep coming our way - how will we ever do this? it's possible we're only three weeks away - we have one last hurdle to clear before we know anything for sure - three weeks that seems impossible.

but the funny thing is while we're scared, overwhelmed and stressed - we don't know everything and there's so much to be done - we feel right about this. we know it's what we're supposed to be doing, we have confidence that we're doing what God wants us to do, and that makes all the other stuff seem so minor. it makes it easier to be excited about this move.

you know what else is interesting about all the people we've talked to? their reactions. who will be dumbfounded and think we've gone off our rockers and who will be over the top supportive? i bet 75% of the time we're wrong in our assumptions about what reaction people will have. we should have figured that one out by now, it's been true from the beginning.

i did it!

i squatty pottied!

oh, yeah, baby, on one of these. go me, go me, go me. and don't ask for details. just know, i didn't fall in, get wet or make a mess. and i washed my footprints off the sides.

today is sight seeing day.

our first stop was doi suthep. a mountain that over looks chiang mai. the highest altitude of this mountain is 5498 ft. - not quite the altitude at which we currently live. on this mountain we stopped at wat prathat doi suthep, a holy buddhist temple. now, i don't claim to be an expert or anything but i had done a little research about how to behave when visiting a wat - no shorts, no sleeveless shirts, no PDA - and they even have printed on the ticket they give you to get in - no shorts, no sleeveless shirts, no PDA. and probably 2/3 of the other tourists we saw were breaking 2 or more of these simple guidelines. i found that very annoying and i'm not buddhist and i am a tourist. how hard is it to comply with a few simple guidelines?

next up was bhubing palace - the palace the royal family stays at during seasonal visits to the northern part of thailand. the palace and the grounds are beautiful. it looks like the romanticized vision i have when i think of living in thailand.

lunch break - all three of us, the man, me and our driver ate for under $4 american.

then we were supposed to go to a silk factory and ended up at a silk shop. i think maybe it was a communication issue. our driver speaks no english and we speak no thai. and so between the two of us we licked the platter dry... sorry, got carried away.

we did find the bor sang umbrella factory - by far my favorite stop of the day - to see how they make these beautiful umbrellas - all by hand. they turn the handles and the spindles for the top and use a very sharp knife for all the detail work - no special tools, just one really, scary sharp knife. then they finish creating the skeleton of the umbrella, cutting and trimming, again using those sharp knives. the material goes on. they are trimmed and if they have tassels they're added - than all the pieces are put together. next, is the painting. very quickly they paint all sorts of designs on the umbrellas. they are amazingly beautiful. as your walking by they will offer to paint your purse or your clothing. i had an elephant painted on the end of my pants and bh had one painted on his murse. it's very neat.

now we're taking a break at the hotel, waiting for dinner. we're going to khum kantoke later on - the description we've been given is it's cultural dinner and performances.

tomorrow we head to bangkok and again have one night in bangkok. then we head home. we leave bangkok at 8:45 am on friday and arrive home at 12:45 pm the same day. love the time change going that way.

and the most important thing to happen today? it's #2's birthday! happy birthday, #2! we miss you and will see you soon.