Bad choices include

-facial tattoos
-drugs
-spitting into the wind
-eating a container of prunes at once
-letting my baby sleep all day and now dealing with an awake baby all night.

Eggshell with a star

This is kind of what it looks like, but with a yellow star painted on the other side.

A year after we were married, Chris had a study abroad in Amman, Jordan. I went with him. That's where I met Katie and Bridget.There are a bunch of stories I could tell you about that trip, but all I really want to tell you tonight is that I bought a fragment of an eggshell there. There was this place Chris and I went to quite a few times called Wild Jordan Cafe. They had really amazing smoothies. Seriously amazing. And they had this gift shop where I bought a fragment of an ostrich egg shell that had a star painted on it, and then a hole drilled in it so you could hang it up. I don't think it was meant to be a Christmas ornament, but it certainly looked like a super one. I really loved it. When we packed our stuff up to come back I packed it really really well. I put it in a little box lined with toilet paper, and then rolled that box in toilet paper and then wrapped it up in all my clothes. I was confident you could drop my suitcase a number of stories and that ornament would not break.

When we got back to the states, I found a little paper slip in my suitcase saying that TSA had searched my bag. My clothes were unrolled. The toilet paper was unwrapped (well, torn). The box was unwrapped. My ornament was unwrapped. It was broken in three pieces.

...
...
...
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(Isn't there a section of pages in one of the Twilight books that is totally blank to show how devastated and empty Bella feels when Edward left her? That'e exactly how I felt about my eggshell.)









A little piece of me died that day. So sad. They had to break it? Chris was really angry on my behalf (seriously, so nice a husband. I think there was a recent conference talk that said the defining characteristic of love was loyalty.? Someone should look that up for me, because that is an interesting statement.). Anyway, Chris thought I should write to TSA and complain, and I was about to, until I realized I would have to tell them how upset I was that my eggshell had been broken in a cross-atlantic flight. I can't imagine they would have taken me seriously. "Sir, I am irate! Your heavy handed baboons broke my eggshell!"

Luckily, before I had tossed all the pieces away, Chris superglued them back together (seriously so nice a husband). So I still have it, and I told you all that because today I hung it on our Christmas tree. It looks swell.

We actually don't have that many ornaments that aren't the shatterproof balls I bought the other day. I mean, we don't have that many ornaments with a history. But the girls and I will be making some this next week. And our town has a Christmas Market this Saturday.

Oh UPDATE!!! I ended up making a combo of Peanut Butter Blossom Angel Eyes and brownies for the Kindergarten bake sale. They were awesome. I think I knocked their socks off with my American Stupendousness. Actually, I think I did impress them, because I brought cookies at all. They have pretty low expectations of the American parents I think.
See ya, lovely people (heh heh).

Probably the best post of NABLOPOMO 2012

Hello Anna fans.
I am Chris. You might know me from my glamour shots posted here all the time. Anna said that tonight I could either write a guest post or help cut out construction paper circles for a Relief Society activity going on tomorrow.
I decided to write even though I couldn't think of a topic. I don't want to write about work because I have to live it 12-13 hours a day, and I don't want to write about anything too deep because I haven't written in a while and am out of practice. I suppose I didn't so much decide that I wanted to write as much as I decided to not cut out circles. Circles are so lame.
I will, for this post, present three lists.

List 1: Best 5 books I have read so far in 2012
This list is a little hard because, while I have read a lot of books considering I have been gone a lot this year, most of them were garbage. Anyway, here they are:
5) Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (I think the title explains itself)
4) On Writing by Stephen King (A book all about writing books)
3) The Hobbit (In preparation for the film)
2) The Lord of the Rings (The first time I have read it. I was really affected. The Mordor stuff really depressed me for a while. It was hard to get through it.)
1) I am Legend (This is such a great story. It is pure survivalist scenario stuff. The great thing about the whole zombie genre trend is that the stories are rarely about the death or the danger, it is how ordinary people cope with it and try to carry on living through it. It is so adventurous. But this is a short story and well worth the handful of hours it will take to get through it. Anna, you are going to have to read this as my pick for you to read the next time we do our 'pick a book for the other' game.)

List 2: An incomplete and capricious list of dream jobs, money not factored in
5) Lighthouse Operator (You get to sit in a tower in the ocean and play with a huge flashlight!)
4) Independent Copy Editor (I imagine myself sitting at home and tsk-tsking all of the typos and grammar errors I find)
3) Detective Agency and Dessert Cafe Bistro Proprietor (Every time I get an IKEA catalog, I thumb through and pick my perfect detective desk and chairs, and also the best setup for the cafe side of the operation {including full kitchen and lighting set ups}. This whole dream is fueled by Nero Wolfe novels and what I imagine Guy Noir's office looks like) 
2) Running and Cycling Store Owner (I love running and riding bikes and I would make a FANTASTIC salesman for this stuff. It has changed my life. Also, I would have to set up along some converted Rails to Trails area, and those are fun)
1) Firefighter (I like adrenaline rushes {thanks for fueling that addiction, Army} and helping people, and I have done the EMS thing for a few years and had a lot of fun.What is not to love about radios and lights and bunkbeds and horrific accidents and human tragedy? Other than the horror and tragedy, of course)

List 3: I figured by the time I had written these other lists, I would have thought of something by now. Nope. I will fake it:
5) It turns out I am a huge fan of France. I really liked the food and the language. I didn't like the road signs and that I don't speak any French. I felt so absurd saying Bonjour and Oui; like I was living out a college Sophomore co-ed's dream, but I really did love it there.
4) I accidentally brought two tan shirts instead of one tan shirt and tan underwear to work this morning to change into after morning PT, so it ended up being a very self-conscious day.  
3) I stretched for about 90 minutes yesterday night while Anna fed Gracie and watched Downton Abbey (not even trying to start anything here, but that show is pure Jane Austen fan-fiction meets Daytime Soap romance) and I feel so limber. I would like to turn that into a habit, but it will probably never get further than this sentence.
2) I will probably deploy as a dismounted Platoon Leader to Afghanistan next summer. At least that is the latest word. I am getting close to finishing up my current job as a combat platoon leader, but there isn't anyone to replace me yet, so I might stay until we get downrange. I know I wasn't going to write about work, but I am at the bottom of the barrel here for ideas.
1) I am really excited about Christmas in Paris. We are hoping to take a day and go see Mont Saint-Michel, which I learned about watching Carmen San Diego so many years ago. Also, I hope to spend hours and hours in the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. I love art museums. One of the best days of my life was spent all day in the Art Institute of Chicago from opening until they sent the closing alerts over the loud speakers to get out.

Heads up-- this is not a post worth reading.

So I've been reading poetry lately.

Frankly, I'd like to see that sentence on more of your blogs. Seriously, why not poetry? It helps you think better. I really believe that.

Anyway, I've been trying to read Elizabeth Bishop, Yeats, and my favorite, Rilke. Seriously, Rilke rocks the house.

Okay, since I wrote that last bit Grace woke up, and I put her back to sleep...several times. I also watched the last two episodes of Season Two of Downton Abbey as I've been rocking her . It made me very happy to have such a happy ending (minus the whole Mr. Bates in prison thing). Man, I love happy endings. I don't even care if it's unrealistic.

Oh, and I bought a 7 foot artificial Christmas tree today. I didn't think it would fit in the Corolla with me and the three girls, but it was the last one left so I bought it anyway. And it fit! Bless that Corolla.

Today's Post

So...Nablopomo Eh? It's 11:15 and my children are finally asleep. We are still paying of that long car ride. Here are some things I thought about today:

-Today's family home evening lesson may or may not have left our daughters thinking that the Holy Ghost ate Heavenly Father. Not sure what happened.

-We're buying our first Christmas tree tomorrow. Someone gave us a mini-tree the first year we were married and we've been using that ever since. But not this year, baby!

-I love my German classes. I really like learning languages. Today, I was the only student which was a little awkward for introvert me. Luckily, everyone paid in advance, so I felt like I was on scholarship.

- For our first advent we are having a Fondue party. We have 2 fondue pots that we haven't used in years. Today at Aldi I found two cheapo fondue kits. We considered long and hard who we should invite. To be the perfect party we had to have the right people--you know the right mix so we have the right dynamics. Everyone has to be interesting, relaxed, and fun. We decided to invite five people: our family. Maybe not Gracie if she has prior arrangements (i.e. a nap). I'm pretty excited.

-Also, I really want a red bead garland for my Christmas tree but I am not sure where to obtain one here.

-Good night monkey heads, I'm sleepy.

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Sundays are the hardest and CERN!

The Large Hadron Collider was happy to see us.

Is this true for anyone else? I feel like Sundays are the hardest days of the week. It should be easy because it's a day of rest, but guess what, it is not a day of rest. In our house it is the day of anti-rest. Church messes up everyone's nap time which means everyone is grumpy.Chris and  have started a new campaign to make Sunday a day of happiness and joy by planning family activities, for Sunday. Last Sunday was pretty good, we went for a walk. This Sunday we played hide and go seek for quite a while, and that was pretty fun. But when we weren't playing, the children were paying us back for driving for ten hours yesterday. Gracie in particular. She took no naps today. Not one. She is four months old. There was so much crying in our house today.

But whatever, the goblins are asleep now. Here are some photos of Cern to cheer me up. By the way, it was all we hoped and dreamed. And it was...uplifting. Seriously. It made me want to be a better person because the universe is SO AWESOME.

 

You can't see the sign above the door so well but it says "European Organization for Nuclear Research   Cern." In this picture the girls are saying, "Yay, Science!" Except for Gracie, she's saying, "Can I get a beer?"

 

Eating our breakfast at the Cern bus stop bench because that's the type of traveling family we are.

 

 

The building with the Large Hadron Collider is behind them.

 

The girls are picking dandelions.

 

I turned around for two seconds and then I look to find Jojo and she's climbed up into this display and is trying to lift this weight.

 

Oh, you know. The girls were just playing a game where they could increase electromagnetic charge in order to push protons together. (True fact--I don't really know what I'm talking about when I talk the stuff that's going on at Cern. Except I know they invented the World Wide Web there.)

 Cern being scientific or Cern trying to start a first discussion?

 

So many dandelions! Which is what my kids will remember from this visit. That's just fine.

Nablopomo...still

Sorry guys! We went out of town and I did not blog. But I'm still with you. And guess what, I counted all the countries I have been too. And now I will list them for you because I know you are really, really interested. Feel free to make your own list as well. FYI I am not counting countries from before I was four, because I can't remember Brazil that well. And I stopped at the airport in Guatemala for a few hours, but I don't count that either, but I still wanted to brag about them both so I mentioned them just now anyway.

In order (ahem)
Honduras
Argentina
England
Greece
Cyprus
Egypt
Jordan
Palestine
Israel
Austria
Germany
France
Switzerland

That's 13!

Hmmm, I just realized that most people who read this blog have been to more countries than me. But you know what, I ain't even mad. It just means you know how cool traveling is. You know where I need to go? Asia. (And maybe Australia, but they have nasty sharks there.)

Also, it turns out I am really bad with GPS's. By that I mean sometimes I forget when I've programmed it to avoid certain things. Like when we moved to Georgia and I programmed it to avoid highways and then the next day Chris flew to Nebraska with it and drove all our earthly belongings in a huge Uhaul truck for hours, trying to get to Georgia on BACKROADS. I don't think we figured it out until the next day even. That was a fail time. This time, I had set it to avoid tolls....uh. Switzerland is full of tolls. Our three and a half hour trip from the Black Forest to Cern actually took...over six hours. And we almost died driving up windy back roads in the mountains of Switzerland and France in spooky, thick fog. By the way, it turns out that our GPS doesn't tell us when we leave one country and go into another, and since we were on the back roads, the borders were not always even marked so we kept asking each other, "Wait, what country our we in now?" "Is this the European Union or not?" It was a little surreal to not know what country we were in.

BUT it turned out that by avoiding tolls we actually saved 140 Euro. So...we decided to do that on the way home too. It was easier to tell what country we were in because the Swiss helpfully hang flags out of their windows a lot. Kind of like returned missionaries. (Side note, when my brother Tom got back from his mission he hung a Jolly Roger up in his room. I thought that was funny.)

So Cern was really cool. I will have to post about it tomorrow. After our visit, we drove past it later that day on our way into the city and Sophie pointed and said, "Look Dad, Science!" So it is girl, so it is.