Nevada's Days

A spoonful of sugar..

2012-02-19T15:35:00.003+08:00

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, annnnnd SNAP! The job's a game!"

Sometimes when I wash dishes, I make a game of it. I like to wash my dishes in layers. First, all the dinner plates. I dig them out from everywhere in the sink and wash those. The big stuff that is taking up space so I can't reach everything: popcorn bowls, cookie sheets, cutting boards, etc. Then the small plates. Then all the little plastic bowls, then cups, mugs, glasses. Lastly silverware. (Because silverware in dishes is like socks in laundry, so little and tedious, and I hate washing the silverware almost as much as I hate folding socks). Yah, a little lame, but it helps the time go by and I like that the job gets broken down into smaller sections...

Any other favourite house work games?

2012-02-15T19:04:00.002+08:00

Our very dear friends in Taiwan gave birth to their first son yesterday, after 46 long and anxious hours of labour. There is no relief like when that baby finally comes out, as any mother could tell you. A beautiful new life to bless the world, and such a joy for his parents. I'm just in awe of that process in which a child enters the world, how something so wonderful comes out of something so difficult and pain filled.

Welcome to the world, Elliot Joshua Su! We love you!

Hmmm..

2012-02-11T07:36:00.002+08:00

I'm awake and the kids are asleep; I have a cold and am so stuffed up, dry lips and throat, runny nose...yuck.

So I remembered my intention to blog more. And I can't think of anything to say!

What about this gift of free time? I could wash dishes, I suppose. Or fold laundry. Or start the massive work project I have for the weekend; prepare all my overseas orders that are due Monday morning (an extension from the original Friday due date). But you know what will happen as soon as I begin to 'do' something....

pitter patter stomp "Mommy? MOMMMMY?????" I'm hungry I want a show I want to get dressed cuddle me".

So maybe I'll just bum around until they wake up.

morning? night?

2012-02-07T23:05:00.002+08:00

Does anybody else despise getting up in the morning? I always say, "If I just get up earlier, I can get a few things out of the way that will otherwise pester me all day" but morning comes...and its so dark, and my bed is so cozy, and I feel so tired.... I love that quote from Dr. Suess' 'I'm not going to get up today': "My bed is warm, my pillow's deep; today is the day I'm going to sleep." Except I feel that way every day.

So then, because I don't get up early to do stuff, I plan to stay awake at night past the kids. HA HA, yah right!!! By the time dishes are done, Guinness is in bed, do something special with Gemma, stories read, teeth brushed, massage, cuddle... I'm out like a light.

I took some worktime tonight as the kids watched a movie. I am going to another Orff workshop Thursday and Friday, so I have to make sub plans, and a few other business parts of my job that happen to be due on Friday. SO excited to be a 'student' this week. Last year I learned so much, it was awesome.

Stages

2012-01-29T22:03:00.002+08:00

Just had an awesome break, I feel so good about how it went, how much fun I had with the kids, how much cleaning I did, etc. It was pretty awesome. Going to have a great 10 weeks at work now, get into things, a good routine and make the rest of the school year count.

As I was washing about two dozen 'kid' dishes tonight, like I do every night, I was thinking about my friends and they brand new babies this week. They will spend hours and hours nursing this week. They will wash their breast pumps, and sterilize bottles, and all that new born stuff, and I will wash every kid bowl and cup in my house 20 times this week. I will deal with dozens of fits, forcing apologies between sibling... It all moves in stages.

The New Blog

2012-01-26T00:23:00.002+08:00

is just this blog. But with a new template. On my computer, I can't see the old template anyway, but I guess I just deleted the cool banner that Chris made for me, oops.

Blogging goals for the new year:
more pictures
update links to my friends' blogs
update more often
keep it light, encouraging... something you'll feel good about reading
share books I read and like, both kids and grown up
YOu know.... stuff. Whatever I feel like, 'cause its my blog :)

Well, that's enough progress for today. I'm tired.

House Cleaning

2012-01-25T23:55:00.002+08:00

Here I am, working on blogger for the first time in a month. But I like blogging, and I like my friend's blogs, so if you can put up with infrequency I think that we can make this work :) I changed the template, am adding links, and am thinking about combining all of our stuff together (not updating the kids stuff). Hmm, I thought I would just jump on here and start one new thing for all of us, but then I thought, why change something I've been working with for so long, why waste more cyper space with another new blog.... and so I think I will carry on as normal.

Going to add some new links... I'll ask before I add, how about that?

Unpacking

2011-12-28T23:50:00.002+08:00

For every event I go to, I need a bag. I don't always have time to unpack these bags, and they pile up because its faster just to get a new bag than unpack the last bag and reuse it. And the stuff i need from event to event is different. To consider when packing a bag: bring snacks? Bring water? Will there be eating? Need toys/entertainment? Tech? Stuff I'm responsible for bringing, ie. craft supplies, invites, utensils, kitchen supplies.... So anyway, the bag is always different.

So then on a house cleaning day, like today, arriving home from vacation, these are the bags I unpacked;
Suitcase from trip (1 bag of clothes, 1 bag of toys/games, 1 bag of outerwear, my purse)
1 of Gemma's stocking suff bags
Guinness' stocking stuff
Church bag from Christmas day
Bag from Friday's outing that got cut short because I forgot to show up at Gemma's school and volunteer

Still left to unpack/find a home for:
Gemma's birthday presents that got gathered into one bag
1 more bag of Gemma christmas stuff
My Christmas stuff
Chris' Christmas stuff (probably I'll do it for him, cause I'm sweet like that :)
Guinness' new cabbage patch doll and his clothes

How many bags do you have sitting in your porch?

My New and Improved Sunday

2011-12-11T20:10:00.002+08:00

I think I have reached the point where I need to change my Sundays, specifically my Sunday night before church routine. Usually I am tired and wore out from the kids, because I spend most of my time with them Saturday and Sunday. Then I leave Sunday school planning until about 3 or 4 o'clock, even though church is at 5:30. I almost always have to make two stops on the way to church, one to the grocery store for a snack and one to the stationary store for craft supplies. Oh. and not to mention feed the kids dinner , change diaper, fix ponytail, find socks, shoes, etc, and then get out the door without forgetting anything. A little to stressful. What would it be like if I planned the lesson ahead of time? Worthy of trying, that's fer sure.

Oh, to be human; how many crazy ridiculous Sundays will it take for me to make a change? Why do we always reach these points before we try and do something? I always loved the Bible verse, 'as a dog returns to its vomit, so a man returns to his folly.' Other follies I've recently returned to: not drinking enough water, snacking at night, skipping breakfast, not dressing nicely for school, lesson planning (ha ha, don't tell!). Now that my busy season is over time to get things on track. Good advent activities, I think, getting things in order.

What's up?

2011-12-05T23:59:00.004+08:00

A lot!

I've missed blogging, but things have been so busy (as always). Not enough time in the day to do all the things I want to, or even the things I need to :) But I love reading my friend's blogs, so I am not ready to give it up yet. If you can bear with me through the dry spells!

1) Dad and Sheri's visit was AWESOME!!! Although it was only a week, it felt fine because I only worked one of the 8 days, and the rest of the time we were together, so the rte was lots of quality time. Right away Sheri asked, "Where is the cleaning stuff...you don't mind, do you?" and I was like, 'Uh... I definitely don't mind, go ahead and clean as much as you want!!' and all my dad needed was the cable turned on so he could surf between Science and Discovery and NatGeo Wild. Oh, and my dad also said at the beginning of each day, "You go back to sleep, I'll watch the kids." I'm tearing up just thinking about it!!! It was a completely wonderful week and I am so thankful they could come and see our life here in Taiwan. (and it was a complete surprise to the kids; they were speechless when they woke up Tuesday morning to Grandma and Grandpa!!!)

2) Brenda is coming Friday!! YAY!!! We are so lucky this year! I am washing bedding and tidying up (again; haven't done much since Sheri left, oops) Can not wait for fun with the MIL, she's the coolest.

3) Baby Shower for two super good friends who are due a month apart coming up here. It's a Dr. Suess shower, and its going to be so fun!!!! Except that because its for two of our closest friends, me and my other friend can hardly ever talk about it because one of the 'recipients' of the shower is always around! Ha ha, its not a surprise, but just trying to be good hosts. This happens on Saturday (when Brenda is here, because she is a co-host with us)

4) Concerts. Elementary was the best ever!!!! Kids sang amazingly, almost no glitches. Except at the beginning the camel was behind the curtain and she should have been in front and so I had the narrator say the first line again and it almost threw him off but THANKFULLY it didn't, and then once we got the curtain unjammed we were ready to roll. Secondary? Will have some awesome parts, that's for sure. Next week is the last week of school before the holiday and then the 2011 part of 2011/2012 will be all done!

5) Chinese; I have a new teacher and I think I am making progress. My bopomofo is getting a lot better, I am realizing I do know more vocab than I think, and I can use more Chinese out and around and people understand me!! Love it. 'Wo de zhongwen jinbu!!"

6) Tonight was family date night. We ate at Chili's (which I love) and watched Arthur Christmas, which was so good. My husband is so sweet; picked us up at school with a bag packed of my non-teacher clothes, kids raincoats, and everything else we needed and whisked us away for our surprise date. It was just great, a breath of fresh air, a chance to relax and enjoy eachother.

7) And what is a blog without photos? I'm going to try harder, ok?

Here are some pictures of a bike trip we did a few weeks ago, when Chris spilled the beans about Dad and Sheri's trip. It was too important to keep it a secret, he needed my help planning, and also I got to enjoy it so much longer because I had a few weeks of anticipation!!

Guests coming!

2011-11-14T00:32:00.002+08:00

Yay, 1 week till Sheri and Dad come!! Kids are still in the dark, can't wait to tell them. Actually, can't wait for them to wake up Tuesday morning and be totally shocked!!! I have two days off work, plus a long weekend, so we'll have a great time.

Am in cleaning mode. And Gemma birthday mode. Want to have everything done when they get here so we can just chill and have fun.

What am I thinking about this morning?

2011-11-03T06:20:00.002+08:00

1) I wake up every morning and stare longingly at my blue jeans.... Sigh, dress codes.

2) I found a pair of capri's to put on but in the orange-pale light of my room I can not tell what colour they really are. Brown? Olive? I hope I do not have a fashion disaster.

3) Sheri and dad will be here in less than three weeks.

Have a great Thursday!

UPDATE: I found a white shirt to wear, YES! No need to fear the rising sun!!!

Awesome Weekend

2011-10-23T21:54:00.002+08:00

Had such a great weekend!! Began with a great Thursday/Friday at school; two causal clothes days, some fun activities that shook up the routine, and some fresh energy from a pep talk with a Taiwan best friend on Wednesday. Friday night was super fun, put Gemma to bed early and alone so could enjoy the adult company better. Saturday tutoring was good, miraculously got a sitter for married small group which was also awesome. Sunday 'art sale' (see Gemma's blog for more details), first Chinese lesson in ages, church. I wish I had the energy to stay up and finish some projects, but that's cool; tomorrow is a new day.

Part of the new energy/refreshing came from the stories/new events of others. Of course YueYue, the hit and run in China which completely shook me to the core, then two other news stories about the soaring abortion rate in Taiwan. Then the blog of a friend whose daughter was born very premature, just came home form the hospital finally after 4 months but then was readmitted this week for observation... just the frustrations they're having and the stress, and how they just long and ache to HOLD their baby and take her home and have everything be OK, to not worry that at any minute she could forget to breath or that she wasn't so vulnerable and tiny. The common thread to all these events is LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS!!! Value life, value every second with my precious children. Nothing like a dose of perspective to bring a new bounce to your step, an extra measure of patience to your words, a louder laugh out of your mouth. So so much to be thankful for!!!!

Amazing!

2011-10-03T20:49:00.002+08:00

I didn't wash my dishes all weekend.... and on Monday they were still there! Waiting for me. And the house didn't explode, the world did not end... they were just waiting so patiently and tonight I got them done.

Broke my dryer 'fast' today. It's been raining for three days, and we were suffering some major backloading as I've deemed Saturday as laundry day and then not been around the last two Saturdays. Oooops! So we'll have to zoom a few loads through the dryer just to get caught up. Plus its cooler now, so the AC isn't running all the time.

Short week this week, then FALL BREAK!

Neat Week

2011-09-24T07:59:00.003+08:00

This week started pretty... blah. I was feeling really overwhelmed at work, kids slept poorly Monday. Tuesday just sort of disappeared it was so busy. But then all these little rays of sunshine burst through.

I got lost taking Gemma and Guinness to an audition, but because we did get lost we saw Gemma's commercial on a JumboTron screen outside at a large downtown shopping complex. Also, when we found the audition the people were super nice and it took like 5 minutes. Yes!

I was chosen by the 'tea fairy' at work, and got to get a free tea delivered to school :)

FINALLY made it to the teacher store to pick up some posters I wanted. You know how those undone things just weigh on you?

Got to go to the fabric market for work, and I got some fun stuff for a craft project this weekend of my own, too.

Heard that it was the last day for the Ancient Egypt exhibit at CKS Memorial Hall, and decided to try and take the kids. Well, Guinness was late getting home, but OK, no big deal. Got to Gemma's school eventually, but they were just having snack because it was cooking day and I guess the homemade pizza took longer than they thought. OK, still no big deal; the exhibit closes at 6, it's only 4:40. No problem. Bike down to the Hall, park, walk... carrying Guinness because he can not not more than 5 steps in a straight line. And when I go to pay the lady says its 690NT. I was like WHOA! (Thats like 22$; maybe not a lot to you but way more than we spend on entertainment usually, plus charging so much for a toddler? come on!.) So I called Chris and he encouraged me to go, its worth it and I agreed so I start counting my change. Cause I don't even carry that much money in my wallet usually. Well, I had 600. And two baby showers to shop for tomorrow. Big sigh; I resigned myself to leave. Oh, but wait! I put some change in my pocket as I left the house. *Note: The whole time I am trying to count money and talk to the lady and get my phone out and back, Guinness is wandering around, touching stuff and climbing on stuff and walking away. Blood pressure rising!!!! I get the change out of my wallet; 50, then I go back to my change purse and start counting out 10, 20, 1, 2, 3, 4.... Well I made it to 683 :( And that was it. No more secret compartments, fallen coins at the bottom of my bag, nothing. Huge disappointment! But then an angel swooped down; this lady who had been watching me struggle and politely chit chatting in English to me said, no problem... And gave me a ticket!!! I tried to give her all my money and she said, "no no no!! I see your daughter's backpack says LingliangTang (Bread of Life Church); Go, sister! God Bless you!!!" Well, my eyes are welling up as I write this because I was so touched, and it was just like the sprinkles on an already amazing week.

The exhibit was AMAZING! All kinds of real Egyptian treasures and 4 mummies; including one who possibly was the Pharaoh during the Exodus!!!! Totally a once in a life time opportunity.

Haven't posted...

2011-09-01T19:32:00.003+08:00

Haven't been on in a while. School is on, and our home is running fairly smoothly, which is GOOD, but requires some prioritizing of time, and blogging is taking the cut.

We're in a fairly good groove here. I've been getting up early to go to school early to make up some work time, and that's been helpful. Truthfully, I feel tired when I sleep 8 hours or 6 hours so why not get up after 6 hours and get some stuff done? So I do, and I've managed to make it to school most days by 6:30. Another morning goal is eating breakfast and doing my hair/putting more than 5 minutes into getting dressed. And I have been! Nothing major; maybe earrings or a necklace, straightening my hair once a week (thanks to the awesome straightener my sister gave me this summer). Other good habits? Doing dishes right after supper, line drying clothes, leaving laundry to the weekend, not night snacking. Serving the kids fruit and veg for snacks. Chris has been doing a lot of shopping and cooking, too, which is so helpful.

So sorry for not being here, gotta put family first :)

Minding Frankie

2011-08-11T14:33:00.000+08:00

Maeve Binchy is my FAVOURITE author. I always am so in love with the characters because they are such normal, likeable people. Sometimes bad things happen to them and they pick up and make a plan to carry on, and more likeable and special people drop in and out to help along the way.

In this story a live at home son with an alcohol problem and no ambition finds out that he is actually about to become a father, through a one night stand 8 months or so previous. Sadly the pregnant mother is dying, and so she seeks out the father and asks him to raise the baby, whom she wants to be named Frankie. Thus begins the journey of Ned (I think his name was Ned, I forget) to become a dad and the team of people who rally around him.

Completely loveable story. Maeve Binchy novels are always hundreds and hundreds of pages long, but even after I've read 400 pages I am still sad when it is over. They could go on forever!!!

Prophetic Utterances

2011-08-09T18:49:00.003+08:00

Do you believe in the power of words?

A few months ago our new principal addressed us for the first time. He stood in front of us and said how happy he was to be here, and although we had two staff members announce they were pregnant, he really wanted to show his encouragement to us all and he said, "I don't care is you ALL get pregnant!"

In our staff of 23 people, 6 of are having babies this school year!

I am NOT one of them!! Although I ate so much this summer I had 2 people ask me if I was pregnant!

Mark of the Lion Trilogy

2011-08-07T14:26:00.000+08:00

Oh Francine Rivers, you have yet to disappoint me!

This trilogy was recommended to me ages and ages ago when I first started getting into Christian books, and had really good Christian friends for the first time. And I hadn't got around to reading it till now. To be honest I didn't even know what it was about, but I remembered the title and so this was I think the first thing I bought for my kindle when summer vacation hit and I was racking my brain about what I wanted to read.

I was so into these books, could hardly put them down. Such an exciting story (that carries on for three exciting novels, yay!), and amazing characters, and about a totally different period in time. What I love about Christian books is that the characters are so inspirational, and I really felt myself growing in my faith watching how Hadassah and the other believers endured through their struggles.

Must read! My favourite Francine Rivers by far.

Save the World

2011-08-04T14:24:00.001+08:00

In a noble attempt to save the world and our summer power bill, I have decided to try line drying my clothes. I made a 500NT investment of laundry clips, super big laundry clips for Chris' shorts, etc, and two hanging things with lots of clips (a total of 60). I put a stool out there so I can reach the bar that hangs across the roof of the balcony. And so it begins. So far it is easy. Just put the clean clothes on the dryer, stand on my stool and clip away. Chris likes his shirts hung up anyway, so this will be a time saver in that area. Shorts are a bit of a pain, but so far so good. I figured with 37 degree hear every day, and direct beaming sunshine on my deck each morning, how could I not take advantage of this freebie from nature? We'll see how long I can keep up with it :) So far in a week I've not used the dryer 4 times when I normally would have. So 4 hours of 220V? We'll see if it is even noticeable. It will such a disappointment to take this gallant effort if we can't see the difference, like my friend whose elevator was being replaced and had to walk up 5 flights of stairs or something everyday with her daughter for a month and she didn't lose any weight!!!!!! Seriously, is 'taking the stairs' a weight loss myth????????

Oh, except this is funny: I was out on the deck, doing the laundry thing, and when I was done I could not get back in!!!! Chris was gone, Guinness was napping, and I'm stuck on the 3rd floor balcony!! I don't know what happened, if I closed the door too forcefully and dropped the lock, or if Chris accidentally locked it out of habit after he poked his head out to say goodbye, but anyway I was stuck!!!

Praise the Lord, Guinness' window, which faces the back deck was unlocked. I have no idea why it was unlocked because I usually go through the whole house and lock them all before vacation so it should have been locked, but pheww it wasn't, and so I managed to get over the dryer and down into his room without even waking him up. How's that for Super Mom? So if you begin a save the earth campaign of line drying your clothes, be careful! The road to green-ness is filled with hidden dangers!!

SAHM

2011-08-03T14:11:00.002+08:00

Ok, so this stay at home mom thing that I get to do during vacations is AWESOME! I've taken Gemma to school, gone to my school to run an errand, took my son to the water park with friends, had lunch, (oh, and I got to have breakfast, too), done dishes, a load of laundry, working on a craft project for Guinness' room, AND ITS ONLY 2:15!! There are so many hours in the day!!!!!!!!!

Summer Vacation is ending :(

2011-07-28T06:47:00.002+08:00

We had such a nice vacation.

Guinness has been my little buddy, following me around and hugging me and cuddling and playing and telling jokes. We really had a special summer.

Gemma and I struggled a bit with her constant demand for a level of creativity and energy I can hardly meet, but I caught myself looking at her with such wonder at many times this summer. Her new freckles from hours of sunshine, her long lean legs, beautiful smile, and cool dance moves. If anything I've thinking about our relationship a lot and how to preserve the love and friendship through the inevitable battles.

I know I get wore out, and tired, and complain, but I am so thankful for those long days and weeks with the kids. I start school in a week and a half, Gemma starts Monday (gulp), and then it will be only a few short hours at the end of the day again. I went to work yesterday, started plowing through some stuff. Called Gemma's teacher about what was going on. Texted Guinness' babysitter.

There is excitement for school. It was nice to see the people. I've been doing lots of mental planning and work, thinking about the next year, so hopefully I can pull off some amazing classess and concerts. More importantly, train kids to use their gifts and love music, and be an example of Christian love to them. What am I if I don't have love? And what kind of teacher am I if I don't show love?

Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Time for school, time for vacation. Time for work time for rest.

As hard as it is to be a working mom, I know that is what I am called to be doing. It was such a hard decision to sign again, thinking about my babies and spending time with them, but both Chris and I just didn't feel 'released' from our calling at our positions. And you know what? God is faithful! To the people he calls, he rewards! For the things that are difficult and the things that are sacrificed, there are blessings.

Matthew 19:29
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

I am holding on the optimism of the new year :) And LOVING every minute of my remaining vacation. (haha, and even making plans for fall break already)

The Help

2011-07-28T06:38:00.002+08:00

Awesome book! Very nice characters and a plot I could hardly put down.

Its about a white woman in the 1960s southern US who wants to put together a book about the stories of black housemaids in her town. Of course, it is a terrifying and risky endeavour and watching the people tip toe around, wanting to share their stories but also not wanting to get caught was quite gripping. I won't lie, I was pretty nervous at some parts because I was so afraid what would happen to our lovely main characters if they caught. (Like do you ever catch yourself praying for TV characters? Doh)

I wonder when the movie will come out in Taiwan.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

2011-07-27T07:15:00.001+08:00

If you need a lighthearted yet intelligent, laugh out loud book, this one was awesome. Mennonite connections will only enhance the experience.

Its a memoir style book rather than a story. Its about a woman who grew up in a traditional Mennonite home leaves her Mennonite faith as an adult, but then needs to go back home to live with her parents for a time while she goes through some personal crisis.

Something I thought was really special about this book was that even though the author had chosen not to live as her parents did, there isn't any bashing or ridiculing of the faith. Some gentle teasing, yes, but she speaks with great love and respect for her parents and how they raised her, and as she describes some of the unique cultural aspects of her mennonite community, there isn't any meanness.

Have a dictionary nearby, because the author uses lots of big words I didn't know.

Get over it!

2011-07-24T20:42:00.002+08:00

That is what we are doing with our jet lag, ha ha. Almost there, stayed awake until 8pm tonight, barely. Both kids were almost comatose when I tucked them in :) But who doesn't love an easy bedtime.

Trying to keep the TV off more in the day and actually do stuff, but what to do when it is 4am? Even when the sun gets up it is blazing hot and just the thought of leaving the house is exhausting. And then when things actually open and get going in the morning I;ve been up for 7 hours already and am getting tired. I feel lazy, although I guess we've done a fair bit of stuff, water park, etc. Hard to meet the needs of both kids.

I so want to whine and complain more, but I really can't. Or rather, shouldn't. Our return trip was AMAZING, seriously, the kids were awesome and Guinness didn't even wander around the plane. And only fell off his seat while sleeping once. (of course, as soon as I left my post as guard to go to the bathroom he rolled off) Our apartment is clean. Unpacked all the suitcases. Lots of tidying and organizing done. So much to be thankful for :) And speaking of thanks...

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE BEST SUMMER VACATION EVER! I loved all the time I spent with everyone and your families, and will treasure it as encouragement for a long time.

Coming up on Nevada's blog; reviews! I read a tonne of books, courtesy of my mother in law's library and my new kindle and so plan to review them all for you here.

12 hours...

2011-06-03T21:05:00.004+08:00

In 12 hours we'll be getting ready for the taxi to come! I had a fantastic week at school; spent no joke about 15 hours of the last week cleaning the band room and my 2 storage rooms and music library, including an almost full day with our music department head from Taichung. There are NO PILES OF MUSIC anywhere in my room. Everything is filed, even the stuff we played this year, which is completely amazing. I am super proud because the room looks better than ever, and it so organized.

My house? Not so much. But a lot of big jobs done, so I'm going to start with the essentials; passports and carryon bags and then see what I can get done before midnight. Then bed for 7 hours of sleep (hopefully).

Lots of love to all, see you soon! (10:40pm Saturday night your time)

I have a dream

2011-06-01T07:12:00.002+08:00

My dream is that the night before we embark on a 30 hour travel day I can get more than 2 hours of sleep. There are a million and one things to do before you leave your house for 6 weeks, and to pack and shop and plan and get ready.

I packed clothes last night.
Cleaning lady is coming today.
3 more nights till go time!

I have to (in order of priority)
-pack carry on
-shop for treats for kids
-finish cleaning house
-prepare Sunday school lessons for entire summer
-get my pictures printed
-take Guinness to dr. for immunization
-get the other half of Gemma's teeth sealed

:D Dreams come true sometimes

When it rains...

2011-05-30T01:24:00.002+08:00

it pours.

There has been lots of news this week. Lots of held breaths, sighs of relief, and also sighs of sorrow. Many many MANY prayers.

Babies born early.
Fantastic surprises!
Babies born REALLY early.
More babies being born early.
Battles being fought. And lost. And hearts being broken.
Battles moving forward. Hopefully.
Visas?
Jobs?

I feel so thankful that I am over my SELF and can't believe I spent so much of this semester wallowing in self pity when there is so much more tragedy in my world than the pile of broken pencils left on my desk. Thank you God for open eyes.

Love to all my dear dear friends and family!

Freshmen

2011-05-19T23:14:00.002+08:00

So today we did a field trip to the night market for Chinese Corner, and it was super fun. We each had the name of a famous food on a piece of paper and we had to walk through the market till we found them all, then we sat around a bowl of fruit ice and laid out all we had 'foraged'... So full!

Part of the assignment was to ask someone (in Chinese) where the place we wanted to go was. One of our direction givers was so friendly, and offered to take us to the next place. He was a freshman at TaiDa (major university nearby).

He was SO YOUNG looking. It made me think, "What did I look like when I was a freshmen?" Good grief, I can't even imagine what a baby I was then, fall of 1997, auditioning to a room full of music profs, standing in front of the music department bulletin board trying to figure out what to do, walking around campus to classes.... What did people think when they saw me? Next year will be my 10 year college graduation!!!! Wowsers, right?

Almost!

2011-05-15T22:25:00.001+08:00

Coming home soon; June 4.

Cleaned kitchen today as part of the 'to do before we go' list.

I need a miracle!

2011-05-10T23:17:00.002+08:00

Took a sick day today because both the kids had fevers, so couldn't send either to where they normally go, and Chris stayed home with Gemma all day Monday already and had stuff to do. I don't want to talk too much about school here but in a nutshell: concert on Friday. Missed rehearsal. Gulp. Pray. Trust. I've done what I can do, time to let go.

What did we do today?
-had a snowball fight with wadded up paper
-made a book with Gemma
-played play dough
-went out in our back deck sandbox
-watched the new Go Fish Guys DVD.
-napped!
-cleaned Squiggly's bowl

AND not to mention I swept, cleaned Chris and my bedroom, dusted shelves, folded my own laundry (gasp!), got dishes done, showered, blogged... Will the wonders ever cease????

Speaking of wonders; I need a miracle! So START PRAYING!!!!!!!!!!!

We have recently been deemed by the government of Canada as non-residents. Plus side: we don't pay tax. Down side: is SUPER down. Like way sucky. Like remember what it was like to be 15? And not have a driver's license? Um, yah. No DL for me this summer. Chris is getting his Taiwan car license, which he will get stamped as an international in Canada. But for me? Yah right; pass the Taiwan car test? In the next 4 weeks? Not even possible. a) I'd have to memorize the whole book for the written b) crazy driving part c) HAVE TIME TO GO, key issue here. So please pray for me that by some MIRACLE I will be allowed to renew my SK license no problem, or have some divine assistance in passing this Taiwan test. In the next 4 weeks. (Did I say 4 weeks? Because its really only 24 days)

So. Tired.

2011-05-02T22:26:00.002+08:00

I hit such a tired wall every night about 7:30. All I want to do is sit on the couch. I get Guinness to bed about 8, usually, and then it takes all of my effort to get the essentials done so I can fall asleep with Gemma. The esssentials are:
-get Gemma's bag ready for school (wash bowl and water bottle, do homework)
-move laundry from washer to dryer (if any)
-pick up living room
-put supper away
-wash dishes, if I didn't do them after supper. This is what gets skipped first.

What I would like to get done is
-more laundry
-sweep and wash floors (wish I did it twice a week)
-clean bathrooms (wish I did it once a week)
-clean some random spot in the house; our bedroom, closets, shelves.... places where clutter builds.
-study Chinese
-read Bible/have quiet time

But I just can't. 6 out of 7 nights I crash with Gem at 9:30. It feels like jet lag. My eyes will not stay open, my body aches. Tonight I had two cups of coffee after supper and nothing...I totally just dragged myself out of Gemma's bed.

IF I can make it to 10pm, then I am through the wall and I can usually stay up till 1 or 2. But man, its hard!

Yes, I wish Gemma went to sleep earlier. BUT we have our special play time after Guinness goes to bed. And she naps at school, so she is truly not tired. Even now at 10:35 she is laying awake in bed. Something to look forward to in summer, I hope; earlier bed time for her.

WenZi!

2011-04-29T01:43:00.000+08:00

I had a good post but there is a mosquito pestering me and I forgot.

Short Fuse

2011-04-23T19:41:00.002+08:00

I sometimes fool myself into thinking I am on top of my emotions. Like this week, I'm on vacay, I'm calm, I'm relaxed.... and then I got SO MAD at two complete strangers.

1) I was on the MRT with Gem and Guin in the FireBird. It was packed and we were crammed in the middle, and when we got to the stop we needed people exited the car from the sides of the door and then new people started coming on... and the guy directly between us and the door didn't move. So I very politely said, "Jie Guo Yi Xia" (excuse me). Nothing. So Gemma taps him lightly. Nothing happens. At which point my blood pressure is rising because MRTs don't just stay stopped for long periods of time. You have to move pretty quick. And so I GRABBED the guy's coat, (and see then that he is wearing headphones; why he can't hear me) and moved him out of our way. And said VERY loudly, "EXCUSE ME PLEASE!" Loud enough for everyone in the whole car to hear. And grabbed his coat hard enough to get his lazy inattentive teenage butt out of my way. In a blink of an eye I was that ticked off!

THEN 2) We were at Subway, which has a small bump to get up with the stroller and a swinging door. We were coming in right behind someone, so I got the nose of the stroller up the bump while he was holding it.... then he let go. And the let the door hit us. So I have to reach around the stroller, try to get the door open get the stroller up, make sure Gemma is in and not getting whacked. And then, he stops. Just right in the middle of the aisle to get up to the till. So again, blood boiling over in a second, I say in my loudest, most obnoxious foriegner voice, "JIE GUO YI XIA! XIE XIE!!!!!!" and wait for him to get out of our way. I literally could not stop myself, I as so ticked off.

Not high points for me. When did my fuse get so short???? Why am I so easily angered? Definitely not acceptable behavior, and I sure don't want my kids to react how I did. Sigh....

Vacation

2011-04-21T02:03:00.003+08:00

So great vacation in Kenting this week. I packed AWESOMELY, if I do say so myself, and had everything I needed with me when I needed it and could find things in the suitcase no problem. Packed too much of course, but you know we tried the 'packing light' thing once and it sucked so now we just go heavy and make sure we have what we want. I couldn't believe it but looking back I don't think the kids had any fits or meltdowns. Guinness had a few whining spells but nothing serious. The driving was smooth and easy, thank you CHRIS!!!. We left at 5:30am Monday and got there at 11:30, with one break and one gas stop, and then today (Wednesday) the kids and I went to the Aquarium from 11-2, then they napped as we drive to Kaohsiung (2 hours), walked around Lotus Lake for a bit, had supper at 7, put jammies on and jumped in the car at 8. Got home at 12:30. Kids slept the whole time, watched an episode of Angelina once we got home and had some water and then went right to bed. The all inclusive hotel thing was great. And our room was the first room in the hall, so we were at the front desk, directly across from the restaurant, beside the stairs to the playroom, and a quick meander to the pool/beach. This place (The Chateau) was very equipped for kids; high chairs and kids dishes, sand toys for the beach, strollers to borrow. Spending the money on the nice hotel was worth it because then the hotel becomes your entertainment. No need to leave :) Just chill.

Gem will stay home from school tomorrow and then Friday I am going to volunteer for the morning. She is so excited I am coming, and I'm excited too!

Going on Vacay!

2011-04-17T00:16:00.002+08:00

Getting ready for a family trip... So pumped for our nice hotel in Kenting. Pool. Private beach. Meals included. :D Still in the euphoric state of being on holidays. Working hard around the house so when its go time we're ready and the house will be decent when we get back, so I can veg at the end. Planning on volunteering at Gemma's school later in the week, too, since I don't get to do that at other times. And its something I feel I would do if I weren't already working. (Do you volunteer at your child's school?? PLEASE DO IT; you can help so much!)

Another lovely Saturday with the kids and husband. Got an AWESOME surprise from Chris, who on his free time today went to baby street and picked up a very nice new stroller. Lightweight, easy to turn, folds up well, fits the big boy like a dream. Seriously, I was so excited I was laughing outloud. Chris is a man who knows how to take care of his family, and works incredibly hard to do so, I love him so much and am so thankful for his sacrifices over the last 4 years especially.

Have you ever...

2011-04-12T23:21:00.001+08:00

pulled a stegosaurus out of the dryer?

What is the strangest thing that has ever come out of your dryer?

I'm a Survivor!

2011-04-11T16:02:00.003+08:00

It's a whole new world in Nevada Land! We've seen SUN and had WARM WEATHER. My spring concert was on Friday, and it went off so well. Lots of answered prayers and tonnes of grace. So happy about that. I got a very lovely compliment from someone, which totally made my weekend. This week is a short week, then is the holiday, then only about 6 more weeks of school. We'll be in Canada June 4th!!

The weekends have been outstanding. Here are some things we do on the weekend:
-wake up and play (barbies or princess or whatever)
-I go to Starbucks and tutor for an hour or two.
-play with my kids more.
-go to the park and play
-go to the roof and play with water and bubbles
-get tea
-read (yes, even I had time to read this weekend!)
-watch movies
-keep the house cleaned enough I can go to bed at 9pm

This weekend we had a great bubble exploration time, using all sorts of stuff from the kitchen to see what kind of bubbles we could make. We saw this in a video once in the winter and the kids have been wanting to try it. Flip flips make cool bubbles, just so you know! Just dip it in and hold the bottom and low through the end where your toes would come out.

Making it to this week has been so encouraging. I feel like I can see the finish line; I will survive the 2010-2011 school year! Having the end in sight will also encourage me to run the race well, and finish strong. JiaYou!

March...

2011-03-21T22:34:00.002+08:00

You can tell it is getting close to summer vacation because I am feeling so lazy and unmotivated. I just want to bum around. OUt new sitter for Guinness, whom I will from here on in call 'Saint Crystal' has been so awesome, as she not only takes my son out to play everyday and entertains him with her own son, but also manages to fold my laundry, organize my kids closets and dressers, wash dishes, AND have all the toys picked up before I get home. Seriously, I am so thankful!!

The weather was awesome yesterday and today, which is always good for my mood! Guinness even got a little sunburn yesterday playing up on the roof without a shirt on. And I had a shower tonight and didn't have to have the water as hot as it would go and keep all my limbs inside the spray to avoid frostbite. And my teeth didn't even chatter as I was getting dressed! I even have bare feet right now, amazing.

Something else that has been FUN has been a new project at school; learning the double bass. The orchestra teacher convinced me to get one and we got a great deal on a 3/4 size brand new, hard case and bow included double bass. We will use it in band and orchestra, and man is it great. (We purchased this pre-American idol, too, just so you know ;) I started with the pizzacato, not too bad. Attempted bowing last week and yikes, that was terrible but I practiced about 45 minutes last week and got lots of praise from my teacher today, so pheww! (This is my first string instrument, so bad bowing technique was to be expected). Although it seems I have lost all feeling in the tips of my index fingers I'm having lots of fun with it and pull it out everytime I have 10 free minutes.

You've just got to be a lifelong learner, right?

Moving

2011-03-10T22:28:00.002+08:00

Once upon a time we found a great church we loved called the Pearl. The church grew. We moved. Chris became the pastor. We grew. We moved. We grew even bigger! We moved again.

And wow, moving is hard work!!!!!!!!

Our last place was 37 ping. I've looked up what a 'ping' is to try and tell you but I'm not sure it is right. Wikipedia says it is about 3.3 meters squared. My friend says its about the size of a double bed. I always thought it was smaller than that. Anyway, our old church was 37 ping, held about 60 people and had a tiny kids room for Sunday school. Our new place is 80 ping. So a LOT bigger.

We had builders come do the stage and walls for office/kids room/baby room.

We have to
crack fill new walls (tape, putty, and sand)
paint
move everything form old church
move old church chairs back to my school (we borrowed them from there)
get the bathrooms reno'd
clean
install light fixtures
accept deliveries of furniture (87 new chairs form Ikea, kids furniture)
drive around and collect donated stuff (crib, etc)
set up everything (new chairs, tech, stage, lights, toys, office....)

It is Thursday. First service is Sunday.

Gulp.

Pray for Chris and his project manager Victor, as they have bore the brunt of the work this week and last; buying supplies, coordinating everything, making decisions, and WORKING non stop with every free moment.

Pray for me to have patience as I really WANT to be working but of course my job after school is here with my kids. A noble job, of course, but of course part of me wants to be part of the new project (especially the AWESOME mural I have planned for the kids room...so wish I had time to go do it, but will have to let it go to other hands)

We're giving ourselves a few weeks before hosting a grand opening Sunday to get all the pieces together but hopefully we'll have a good foundation for this Sunday.

Peace!

Missing Chris

2011-03-06T22:23:00.002+08:00

You know who misses Chris the most when he is gone? His technology :) Since he left I've had to
-reset the wireless password on the apple TV twice (once before Chris even finished his taxi ride to the airport)
-delete the facebook app off my phone because it crashed
-force quit Internet Explorer on the desktop because Gemma's Dora game crashed
-ignore three messages prompting to install the latest version of _______. (itunes, firefox, and something else...)
-change batteries in the remote

These are things I NEVER normally do. And don't even know how to do, except the batteries. Everyone misses Chris. Its kind of like my Dad's thing with cars. (Cars are afraid of him and always are on their best behavior when he test drives them)

Single SAHM week

2011-03-01T22:50:00.003+08:00

So we had fun playing today, and will have fun tomorrow, too, but... life is life and there are things to get done. Gemma will be school as she was fever free today (she had a fever last night which is why I kept her home today), but here's what's on the list:

Passport for guin (3 steps involved:)
-get guarantor to sign Guinness' pictures (yes we have to do that even though you don't because we live abroad)
-yearly checkup with Dr. Lee. (Dr. Lee will be the guarantor, sweet, kill two birds with one stone.)
-renew passport

dentist for all of us.

Gymnastics for gem on wed. Forgot the last two weeks because of school, ooops!

Babysitter shuffle on Friday because I have to work.

tutor on Saturday

Last Sunday at old church!! Hurray, we got a bigger space!!!

Babysitter shuffle on MOnday because Chris gets home late.

Single parenting; I like being the boss and doing things my way, but it is a bit tricky at times. Actually, all the time! God bless the single parents out there!!!!

SAHM

2011-03-01T10:05:00.001+08:00

I have three days of Stay At Home Mom this week, yay! Chris is going to LA for a conference so i am using my personal days. Pretty busy schedule; dentist, passport office, meeting friends, workingout details with babysitters but looking forward to a nice week.

Benchmarks

2011-02-23T23:15:00.004+08:00

So wish I was going to bed right now instead of homework. But I must. We are re-writing the benchmarks for the entire music curriculum... Any teachers or former teachers in the house? A worthwhile task, but lots of work.

I finally went through facebook and un-friended about 60 people. Mostly students, because I am always so annoyed by their abbreviated teen-speak that shows up on my news feed every night at 8pm and triples in quantity on holidays. They are always referring to some inside joke that I don't know and using bad spelling, hyphens and dashes to write cryptic messages. I mean, I like facebook lurking as much as the next person but enough is enough. Also on the cut list: people who I knew of in high school but never actually spoke to then so why on earth would I need to know what you are doing now? And people who frequently put profanity on their status or update it every 10 minutes with song lyrics I don't know and make no sense to me.

Janet Jackson

2011-02-21T00:30:00.002+08:00

Oh. Wow.

I am not a huge live music person, and don't often spend the $$$ to go to concerts but when a friend of mine said she was buying tickets to Janet I called up Chris and he said he wanted to go, too, so we got our friend to get tickets for us and off we went.

You know the expression 'owned it'? Well, Janet owned it. She was completely totally stunningly beautiful. Every pose, every time she looked at the audience, every entrance exuded her confidence and charisma. Even though she is 45 years old, she totally rocked out. Her eyebrows could dance circles around me. You could just tell that she could make any part of her body do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. I have no idea how people choreograph and memorize those routines, seriously mind blowing. The lady knows how to put on a show. Although, at the time the dancing and gyrating and hip shaking was very exciting and I was impressed with her confidence and sexiness, the next morning I couldn't help but feel a little dirty for all I saw.

Of course we were a million miles away, and there was a sound booth on front of center stage but they had big screens up that was good. Great camera work; we could see her all the time. We could see her really when she came to stage left, but she was smaller than my thumb (the place was that big!!). The lip syncing was also not great in some places; not sure how they cut in and out between her real voice and the recording but to be honest that didn't bother me that much because she was doing so much other stuff, I totally respected her.

It was totally worth it. She truly is an icon, a monument of music history, and I'll be glad to have that experience with me. I saw Janet Jackson. Live!!!

Why I dislike the cold

2011-02-17T23:40:00.002+08:00

1) I don't like being so cold my shoulders are tensed up and my elbows are pulled in to my body.
2) I don't like having to wear socks or slippers ALL the time.
3) It is too cold to wash my face; it takes 5 minutes for the water to heat up and I can't bear to wash it with cold water.
4) I'm tired of always being cold. Being at home is synonomous with being cold.

Spring, come soon!!!

Fire!

2011-02-14T22:24:00.004+08:00

I was 5 minutes away from dismissing my Concert Band to lunch when the 'wooo wooo wooo' of the alarm goes off. Great, I think, getting everyone lined up, grabbing my roster and heading upstairs. Usually we have notice of firedrills and so I was annoyed at myself for not checking my email carefully enough. Except, as we walked up the stairs, there was the smell of smoke! And as we left the building we could see the smoke coming out of the vents on the roof. We went to our assigned locations outside of the school (If you are in the back tower, you wait at the TaiPower building, of you are in the front tower you wait in the lane down the block by Circle K) And we waited. And waited. And it was raining and cold. And the grade 1s were crying. And we waited. Until finally we had word that we could come back to the playground for an announcement.

Yes, there was a real fire! An electrical panel in a supply closet had caught fire. The smoke set off the alarm, and a teacher, seeing the smoke from the closet, extinguished the fire with an extinguisher very quickly. It was out before the fire department got there. Once the fire department had checked everything we could come back but because the building was very smoky still the principal decided to cancel school for the rest of the day. Parents were emailed right away, and it is AMAZING how many parents are online because they were arriving at school within 10 minutes to get their kids. The rest we called until all were gone, and I was home at 2:30.

Do you have an extinguisher? Do you know what to do if there is a fire? I was glad then that we had practiced so often (4 times a year), because I had two student aides in another classroom who were in the right spot, and the orchestra kids were able to tell their teacher what to do, to. Good work, everyone!

coincidentaley

2011-02-10T22:42:00.000+08:00

I came across this link... on 'Should I blog?'

To blog, or not to blog?

2011-02-10T21:41:00.003+08:00

Why do I blog?

I don't exactly know. I read in an article once that before anyone begins a blog they should keep a paper journal for three weeks, and if they continue to write in it, AND then re-read it to see if it is the least bit interesting then you should blog. I suspect I would fail on both counts.

I like to keep a record, and this is the purpose of the kids' blogs. But I don't need much a record since my days are so similar and my personal growth rate has slowed to a snail's pace. I like to share my life with my friends but at this point I am wondering if maybe I've been gone too long and my feeble attempt at a blog is not enough to keep the 'connection' alive. I like to share my thoughts and I think that I have something to contribute, but I also think I am too dependant on the affirmation of others. (facebook junkie right here...) If I want to maintain connection maybe I should just email people but in this day and time of being connected at a distance.. being open but not to open, vulnerable but not vulnerable, personal and yet impersonal. I have too few hours in the day; maybe I should devote my time to learning Chinese or church work or learning how to do more than facebook on my iPhone, but yet I can't give it up.

I have 25 followers, but I don't know hardly any of them. Is that weird? Time to privatize, renew my connection with real friends and get more people I actually know on my reader list? Do you feel connected to me through my blog?

Truth be told, I am feeling homesick in this season. Although we've had nice weather the last 5 days before that was weeks and weeks of gray and rain and cold. It's always hard to celebrate Christmas overseas, and then to go back to work after a great vacation. This time of year is also terrible as people make their 'leaving Taiwan' announcements and we prepare for another season of goodbyes. It's hard and also a little heart hardening to be the one who always stays. You welcome people into your church and your home and your heart, but most people do not come to Taiwan to stay in Taiwan. They are here and then gone, bright blooms in a garden, and then fall comes too quickly and snatches them away. We say will keep in touch but we don't. My 6th year at Bethany gives me seniority over 80% of our staff and Chris has pastored the Pearl for more than half of its existence, and my kids have never lived anywhere but here. My kids have never seen snow. 'Nuff said.

The thing I like the least about blogging is the constant need I feel to defend myself. Even now, I want to say Sorry for feeling homesick and I am dreading the 'then why don't you move home?' comments. So why put it out there on the internet for everyone to see if you don't like the negative comments? Exactly my struggle in the blog, or not to blog battle.

CNY

2011-02-04T00:43:00.002+08:00

Chinese New Year is an awesome holiday.

Tonnes of fun decorations and glitter and banners and little orange trees and giant radishes in pots. It is all very festive.

I love walking around New Years Eve and New Years Day (Wednesday and Thursday) and seeing all the closed shops. I love that everything is less crowded and that the hard working people I see busting their butts every day making dumplings and cold noodle salads and sushi 10 hours a day 6 days a week are out with their families. ChunJie JiaQi! (Spring Festival Break!)

I love that fireworks have been blowing off intermittently for more than 24 hours. You might think that fireworks in the middle of the night are annoying but to me it is a reminder of this crazy culture I live in, my home far far away from home.

CNY is the real prep time for the long haul of school. Christmas is good, we do a practice lap or two after Christmas break and then CNY is the get back to the bench and get ready for the big game; the final 13 weeks. I've got my imaginary coach behind me, rubbing my shoulders, get my laces tied, gloves on, (hmm, why boxing? That's weird, I don't think I am much of a boxer...anyway)

Exhausting Week

2011-01-30T11:45:00.002+08:00

Super busy week this week, especially with Chris out of commission for 2 days and Guinness' constant crying and whining. I'm responsible for getting the order ready for purchasing the music curriculum for the entire system, and a bunch of other things like benchmark writing, ec etc... Getting organized for semester 2; new music, private lesson schedule, etc. There were a lot of highlights, too; Annabelle's shower the big one but also so difficult as every week that passes is one week closer to her departure and that is a huge sad knot in my stomach.

So thankful for GuoNian (CHinese New Year) holiday. (ChunJie JiaQi) As always, I have incredible ambitions:

paint the house
Guinness' curtains
clean the bathrooms
clean the fridge and freezer
go on an overnight trip
go shopping
get Guin's passport

BUT I am not going to get much done. CNY is tricky because it is the big holiday here in Taiwan and the only one everyone gets off, so almost everything will be closed Wednesday-Saturday, so I that means I get all my shopping and traveling done tomorrow or Tuesday so I can be housebound the rest of the week. It also means there will be tonnes of traffic so we can't travel then, either...

13 weeks of school left. Amazing.

Awesome!

2011-01-16T07:57:00.002+08:00

We just found out that our AC unit in the living room has a HEAT function!!!!! It can blow a lovely gust of warm air into the room, almost like a furnace!!!!

How we have lived here this long and not known about this is amazing. Al those FREEZING cold days and nights, hauling out the duvets from our bedrooms for our friends and us as we watch TV on Fridays, wearing more layers in the house than out of the house.

In numbers, it changes the temperature of our living room from 16 degrees to 27 degrees. Ahhhh!

New Car

2011-01-11T21:18:00.002+08:00

In very exciting news, we got a car! Our first in Taiwan. We did our first adventure tonight and went grocery shopping at a bigger place, Carrefour, than we usually go. It was very nice to not have to load up a taxi, and to be on our own. ALthough man oh man I do not know if I'm ready for Taipei driving. Chris is an excellent driver and he had a hard time with some things tonight: the tight spiral ramp up to the 4th floor parking lot at Carrefour, the 26 lanes of traffic converging into one giant intersection and knowing which way to go, one way streets, scooters all around you. Oh my. We'll see.

Over

2011-01-11T21:14:00.002+08:00

Vacation bliss is over. Back to tired out, slightly stressed, and behind in everything. Oh well, it lasted 8 days; not too bad.

Back to school

2011-01-03T09:09:00.002+08:00

Things that made it HARD to go to school:

So early!
So dark.
So COLD (our house was 17 degrees)

Things that redeemed the morning:

cute banter with Gemma and Chris, as they snuggled on the couch watching the end of the football game.
outside was nicer than inside. And the sun was starting to come up.
coffee!
I cleaned my classroom over the break, so that was nice. (Thank you honey, for work time)
New crocs! The canvas Tom's shoes kind, and they are purple. Seriously, the only shoes I can wear all day and have feet that aren't sore are crocs.

Two days survived! This is actually the best time of year because there are only three weeks until the next break!

Sanity Check

2011-01-03T09:06:00.000+08:00

It is 9:06am on the January 3rd. I have been at school for 1 hour and 47 minutes. So far, I am still sane.

Hopeful? Check!
Optimistic? Check!
Desire to be here? Check!

Deep breath... keep on keeping on!

Ideal Day

2010-12-27T21:32:00.002+08:00

We had a perfect day today. What makes a perfect day?
-no major fits (mommy OR children)
-everyone's teeth got brushed
-many hours outside (at the zoo, hurray!)
-some junk food and some healthy food
-got some stuff done around the house (laundry and bought cough syrup)

I love vacation so much; it is much needed clarity. It is still busy, and stressful at times dealing with the kids all day, but I feel so much more in control of my life when I am here. I decided not to go anywhere over the break, just stay home (and around Taipei) and catch my breath.

:)

Blogging

2010-12-20T22:25:00.003+08:00

I like blogging, really I do! And I think of lots of great ideas during the day. But... as the day wears on, and the night begins... all is lost. Energy. Ideas. Motivation. Awakeness.

Tonight I even looked through dictionary.com and found that awakeness is not a real word, and searched for a synonym but didn't find one. Truthfully, I do like blogging and using words and learning new words. Being a writer has always interested me, and a blog is a good outlet. But, even though it only takes 10 minutes or so, it just another little thing that takes only ten minutes. These ten minute things add up so fast, and by the time I get Gemma down at 9:20 or so, and begin my 'things', well... You can see how often I make it to blogging on the list.

Chinese study not going so well.
House; not so clean.
Christmas cards unmailed.
House not all decorated yet.

I'm not actually discouraged, because to day was a great day. More of an explanation.

Sometimes when you live in Taiwan...

2010-11-29T22:12:00.003+08:00

Well, maybe this happens to you when you are out on the street. Please let me know!

We were walking to school tonight to see Auntie and this old lady came up beside us. She looked that the kids and got all excited; pretty typical so far. Then she told me that her house was nearby and we should come over because she wants to give us something, just wait a minute it won't take long, which way are you going? Oh, thats ok just come over here for a minute. So I obliged, of course, I can't say no to cute old and insistent grandma types. So we veer a bit off course and she jogs off ahead, and goes into her house. (across the lane from our second house in Taipei, actually). We wait and wait, a few minutes have ticked by and I was wondering if maybe I misunderstood her and she comes out with a dress for Gemma. Her kid is too fat she said and so we should take it.

So random, or what?

Present Help!!

2010-11-21T23:31:00.002+08:00

Ok mommies everywhere!!!

What are you buying your kids for Christmas this year???? What are your favourite toys ever that I should get for my daughter's fourth birthday next week?

HELP ME!

Life...

2010-11-14T12:52:00.003+08:00

So busy.

Lots on our minds in this season. Busy at school, as always, busy at home too, but that part is pretty good. Thinking about Annabelle getting married and leaving us; January 10th is her last day. Must find a school for Gem, which is proving difficult with her late birthday because she doesn't qualify for public preschool. Its contract time; stay or go? We have no idea. Christmas concerts, thanksgiving, birthday party. Plus winter, which I know is nothing to complain about to my peeps back home but its rainy and grey which is so not cool.

Our awesome friend Heather and her four kids were here this weekend, which was so great. They moved away to Japan last year but luckily enough could stop through Taipei on their way to America for a 10 week holiday.

Survivor is so great! Oh, Naonka, you are crazy! The Office is also KILLING me, so funny, but I wish that Pam would chill out about being a mom. I think she is too uptight.

OK, just wanted to post something. I have lots of good thoughts but no time at the computer; seriously thinking about ending the blog, but I do like that writing outlet, plus I think some people still check it. Would be better if I blogger more, wouldn't it? (LIke Shelen, yay Shelen!)

BYe!

1 month

2010-10-28T01:43:00.002+08:00

Wow, I can't believe its been a month since I've blogged...

I've been in a bit of a funk lately, and am glad to be coming out of it. Lots going on but I'm calm and just going to let the cookie crumble as it may. Report cards were due on Monday. I was my 21st time to do report cards at Bethany, and the 21st time they didn't work properly. Probably the tipping point for my sanity.

Its 2am, but I am done all three of our costumes for the storybook parade tomorrow. Gemma is Fancy Nancy (and you MUST read those books if you haven't already. They are sublime!) Guinness is being Beast (and Gemma J is being Belle), and I am being the Lamp Post from Narnia. The teachers are all doing a Narnia theme. Guinness' costume is the most ghetto, I'm hoping he can pull it off tomorrow. If they even wake up in time to get to school.

It is the South East Asia honor band Friday all day and Saturday. Looking forwarding to meeting some new people and watching some kids work hard at GREAT music. I'll be gone 7am-6pm Friday and Saturday so pray for Chris, the kids, and the various sitters. Three high schoolers from Taichung are staying with us, so that will be interesting too.

Must. Start. Christmas. Concerts.

Keep it Messy!

2010-09-25T00:32:00.003+08:00

It has been a tiring week. 2 weeks ago was stressful, last week annoying, this week tiring... But I got to talk to some of my favorite people today, go to the fabric market, my favorite place, have one of my favorite dinners picked up by my awesome husband, and it eat it with my awesome friends. 4 days of school next week, then a vacation :D Trying to not get bogged down emotionally. The house is getting messy and its grating on me but I decided at the beginning of the year that it would have to be that way; I would not be a slave to the house and work nonstop. I would put my time and energy into other things (playing with kids, eating healthy, and studying Chinese) so the house will have to wait. I have to keep up my resolve, that it is ok!

Good night messy house! Good night sticky floor! See you tomorrow.

Fanapi

2010-09-18T21:59:00.003+08:00

The rain has started now, should be going strong by tomorrow. But we'll see, never really know until it happens. (or doesn't happen). Praying for people not living in sheltered urban centers like we are, hopefully no disasters this year for southern Taiwan.

The Flowers in the Lobby

2010-09-08T20:55:00.001+08:00

On the first day of school, a lovely arrangement of flowers appeared in the lobby. It was huge, and lush and colourful, with bright flowers springing out in a very regal manner.

Today, almost four weeks later, the plant is still there. It has lost some of its grandeur though. The flowers have long since faded and been pulled off. The overall colour has become faded, as it is with things that you see day in day and day out for weeks on end. It is clearly tired of the 24/7 show its been required to put on for the last four weeks.

This week, I feel like the plant. A little wore out, a little plucked, a little drained of colour. I've been working so hard at school, trying to keep one step ahead, and trying to take care of the number 1 things at home without letting the other things get to me. I am so thankful it is a short week this week.

We're going on Friday to our annual staff retreat to GreenBay for some beach and swimming pool. I can't wait!

Yay for my sister

2010-08-25T21:52:00.004+08:00

It has become apparent now that I spent too much time having fun and traveling that I missed several important lessons in growing up. Small ones include opening mail as soon as you get it, carry your wallet everywhere, and flossing. The major one which has been on my mind lately is paying taxes. Yes, we have to pay taxes. No, I do not have any idea how to do this on my own. (neither did our accountant , as he gave us the phone number for the CRA and said goodbye. So now my sister is doing it ! She has been calling and asking and figuring stuff out for us, and I am so happy. My sister is very grownup. She has installed marble tile, hardwood, kitchen cabinets, sewn costumes, and paying taxes! Haha. Just pray for us as we go through this less than fun proccezs

FINALLY

2010-08-19T22:45:00.002+08:00

It finally happened.

I had a whole conversation with a Chinese person. A lady at the park. And by conversation I mean I could answer more than one question without resorting to 'Wo bu huai shou zhongwen" (I don't speak Chinese). She told me Guinness was so big, and asked me old he was. I answered, and she said her child was the same, and I said Jen da! (Really?) She asked if I only had the 2 kids, where I was from, where my husband was from, and what I did. To which I not only answered what I did AND contributed what my husband did.

I could not believe it. It was tremendously encouraging and made Chinese Corner all the more fun tonight!

Uggg

2010-08-09T04:14:00.004+08:00

Why didn't I push save before blogger would ask for for my password, which I forgot and then had to reset, thus taking away from my carefully crafted post detailing our entire journey? So annoyed right now.

So now you get the brief version. I fed my kids tomato soup on pasta and cereal today. A far cry from the awesome food we ate a home. I have to do laundry, wash dishes, clean floors. But school will be good, its good to go back and try new things.

Jet lag sucks. (this paragraph was longer and more eloquent but we'll just leave it at that)

Our flights:

Wed 5am: got to airport. Problem with flight (not enough connection time in Denver) so they re route the whole ticket. This take an hour and a half. We go home, our new flight doesn't leave till 2:30. Go back to airport. FLy to Denver. Thunderstorm in Denver, we go to Colorodo Springs and wait. Get to Denver. Ironically, beause of the delay now we have a problem with the connection (UGG!) NO UNITED AGENT to help; I was ready to kill! I got my luggage off the carousal, a LOndon airways guy helped me because I was going to cry, got it to customs, they let me recheck it but told me to run. So we ran to security. No agents anywhere, I have no idea where my gate is, if the flight has been delayed, or whatever. When we finally make it through and I find a board I see our flight is on time and leaves in 3 minutes. Great. So we book it, get there 5 minutes late as they are closing the door. I guess we are lucky they are refeuling trouble and waiting so they let us on (how generous, right! HA HA, I want to punch that lady in the face for her 'kindness'; didn't she KNOW there was a thunderstorm and we were delayed, hello????) ANYWAY, we go on to Dallas. Then the United people start being nice. Everything is closed because it is after midnight and the delay meant we had no food in Denver BUT we got some juice from the lady in Dallas, and 2 cots and a blanket. Kids sleep, we eat dunking donuts at 5:30am and take the 6:40am to San Fran. PLay in San Fran, have yummy lunch, fly 9 hours across the ocean. Guinness cries for 2. I let Gemma watch Date NIght because Guin was being a pain. It was funny because she leans over and informs ME; "Mommy, this is a bad movie, you shouldn't watch this movie. They are being so mean to eachother and saying mean things. " Great, thanks Gemma Mommy! Fortunately she didn't get any of the bad words, she mistook it for some Chinese (ha ha) and we got it turned off before the dancing part. Made it to Japan, 6 hour layover. Gemma and I consult a map and make it our mission to visit all three playlands. We play, we clean up, we play, we get a mlikshake and dries, we play, we meet Kris and Katrina (YAY!) and we go. Thatlast walk to the last airplane; it felt like doom. I could hear the funeral march playing in my head. We all fell asleep during take off, but then Gem was freaking out so I put Guin down to cuddle her. Then he starts freaking out, so I put her down to hold him, which took all my strength because he was SO MAD, he was having such a huge tantrum, for about 30 mintes until he finally passed out in a sweaty heap of hiccups. Gemma could not wake up s I carried both of them off the plane, and through the airport. A lovely United lady name Karen helped us with bags, and forms, and luggage and customs... we get to victors car and go home. More than 48 hours after we first left dad's for the airport. 5 flights.

But it wasn't so bad, the kids and I had fun at the good times and they were pretty good, all things in. I felt bad when I got home and everyone told me how worried they were. I hate making people worry, and my dad said how sick he felt, and everyone kept saying how worried they were. Sorry guys!

Its 4:30 am, I'm going to convince my body it wants to sleep for a few more hours. Sorry for all teh typos, the first draft was much better!

Back in Taiwan

2010-08-08T10:52:00.003+08:00

So we are here, living in this confusing and unmerciful land called Jet Lag. Went to bed at 7:30 because because the kids had passed out by then, woke up at 2:30am. Went down for naps at 8:30am, now up at 10:30. Well, Guin and I are. Gem is still sleeping. I can hardly believe that I start work tomorrow, although being in a place where clocks and schedules mean something may help.

Taiwan is good. Of course, it can hardly hold a candle to Canada, where we were treated to refrigerators full of food, meals cooked for us everyday, and people who like doing laundry (Sheri and Brenda). It was definitely back to reality as I served the kids breakfast of honey nut cheerios (the cereal we alternate

UGGGG!!!! I wrote the whole sotry and BLOGGER LOST IT> Ugg, this sucks, Im going to bed.

We're here!

2010-06-17T09:21:00.002+08:00

We had a great travel day.. ha ha, yah because 30 hours of travelling is great, right? But nothing major went wrong, all our luggage made it, we all rested enough to survive and the airports were friendly and nice. Only a few tantrums from Gemma, a few crying moments from Guinness but we arrived safely and happily in Canada Monday night. The kids were so tired, but friendly and happy and they had fun exploring Baba's house.

It is very quiet so far. We've been taking it easy for the last two days, because I've been unsure of what the kids will be like and where should we go, really, but the pace is slow I was feeling a bit anxious tonight. I'm used to having a crammed schedule and busting my butt from 6:30am-midnight everyday but the kids have been sleeping good and its been very quiet. Brenda's internet has gone wacky since our arrival, so I haven't even been able to spend time online, which is always weird. But all this is probably good; take time to rest.

Thanks for all your well wishes on our trip! The stress of packing/cleaning/worrying about jet lag and the trip was very tolling to the point of I said out loud several times 'I wish we weren't coming'. But I love my family and my friends and I am really happy and excited to be here. We're going to Regina this weekend for Happy Everything Day and then hope to start filling the calendar with dates!! Love ya!

And the answer is...

2010-06-12T01:08:00.003+08:00

49.

There were 49 more moldy, sadly discoloured but still smiling goldfish under the cupboard.

I worked up my courage and used a long knife to pull out as much as I could. Ewww!

Aye Aye, Captain

2010-06-11T16:05:00.001+08:00

Is it funny that our new gate guard salutes me every time I come or go?

Summer Anxiety

2010-06-08T21:47:00.003+08:00

I am finally checked out of school, pheww! I didn't leave as neat as I wanted to, but time was out and so I just will have to fix it up in the fall. The main stuff is done, and I left myself a list so when I get back in August I'll know what to do. (Do you want to know what's on the list? Clean out the top two drawers of the bandroom filing cabinet and make files for my papers, organize the CDs, organize the bookshelves under the CD player, and decide what to do with the 6 junky clarinets... fix them or junk them, and add ID numbers to the new instruments and add them to the inventory.)

I thought I would feel great today, but I was actually pretty grumpy. No real reason to be, since it was a fun day and I was glad to have that job done, and someone watched Gemma in the morning so I had some free time. I was just in an annoyed mood. I wont lie; I'm only 4 days in and already my kids are making me bonkers. We had a great 10 days when Chris was gone, but this weekend has put me over the edge a bit. The joys of traveling with youngsters (we were in Taichung), trying to clean up as they destroy all around you... there were just some frustrating moments today. Shake it off, right Nevada? Tomorrow is a new day.

2am

2010-06-04T02:14:00.002+08:00

Why am I awake?

I am very tired.

I am getting a sore throat.

And I am laying in bed and CAN NOT stop thinking about school, and all the work I will not be able to get done tomorrow. (Tomorrow is the last day) I'm thinking about the moldy electric piano case I found that needs to be cleaned. And the french horn gig bag, too. And the thank you notes to parents I didn't write yet. And the grades not entered and the practice records not turned in. Not to mention the bookshelves not covered, E106 not filled out for instrument repairs, final instrument touch ups only I can do, music not filed, books not ordered for next year...

I am usually an excellent sleeper, and I can really say that I never lay awake stressing about my job. So why today?

Sigh, I will be going back to school on Monday.

Time to gargle more salt water and kick this cold before it even begins.

A little bit of math for you...

2010-05-31T22:45:00.002+08:00

(If I knew how to insert the infinity symbol, I would have used it to title this post)

The head of my broom is 2 inches thick, and the bristles are 7 inches long.

The strings of my mop, although connected to a plastic knob that is about 4 inches across, are only about 1 inch thick and about 12 inches long.

Why is this information necessary? Because it would explain why after several attempts to sweep out the goldfish crackers from under my counter I still have not got them out, and yet the mop manages to grab a few more every time. Of course by now the goldfish are moldy and disgusting, and although my zeal is quite intense, I can not argue with the facts that the broom is too wide and too short to get them out, and so I will just have to continue swishing them out with the mop.

And of course, for the final question: How many goldfish are under the counter, anyway???/

Hen Men

2010-05-30T00:32:00.002+08:00

Jintian de tian chi hen men.

Today the weather is very muggy.

Here is an illustration on how humid it is: Today we made sugar cookies, and let the kids decorate them with coloured sugar. This was at supper time, and now at midnight, the crystals of sugar that got scattered on the plate around the cookies have turned into beads of coloured water.

Super humid!

Last Day

2010-05-29T21:05:00.003+08:00

of single parenting (for this stretch, anyway!) People must have been praying because it was as smooth as silk. No problems, the kids and I got along great the whole time and it was a nice week. I don't mind these mini vacations from eachother because we always come back together closer. We have a chance to miss each other and think about what we love and need in the other person.

I'm so glad Chris has this opportunity to go. Church planting is something he is very interested in and passionate about, so when he met these guys a year ago it was very providential. His job here is very stressful and he is under a lot of stress and criticism, so when someone says, "Hey we believe in your talents and abilities and want you to come with us on this amazing trip" OF COURSE I am nothing but thrilled for him.

In two weeks I'll be putting the last items in the suitcase!! See you soon!

Sorry!

2010-05-17T00:26:00.002+08:00

I have been unable to log in to blogger for ages. I couldn't log in but the page was in Chinese so I couldn't see why, so finally last week I found the English button and then learned that I need a google account or something like that so I finally got that figured out and here I am. Ta da! I know you all missed me so much ha ha!

Jin tian de tian qi men.

Today the weather is muggy.

Bye!

Learning Chinese

2010-04-26T23:38:00.001+08:00

I've been taking lessons again, and its going good. Better than any other attempt I've made. Its clicking a little easier this time; maybe the neccessity of it is increasing my concentration, or my desire, or maybe because I've my longer exposure. I know a lot more that I think I do. Sometimes it's really exciting. Like today, we did animals because Gemma is learning animals and so I want to be able to teach her. The exciting thing is that in Chinese all you have to do to change a big animal to a baby animal is add one word; xiao (which means small). So you have cow, small cow, pig, small pig, cat, small cat, etc, instead of cow, calf, pig, piglet, cat, kitten, etc... So that was cool.

The frustrating part is the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. It will still take months for me to use all this vocab in real situations and to get to the point where I can figure out what to say in time to say it someone. Now instead of having 1 sentence conversations with people I can have two sentences. But then I still get lost; conversations spread like branches of a tree and although I my know what to do when someone says, "________", there are 10 other things they could say instead. But I will NOT give up. In fact, I am gong to type up my vocab right now for your viewing pleasure.

From memory (without looking at my notes)
ma/horse
ya zi/duck
niu/cow
jiu/pig
ji/chicken
mu ji/ mama chicken
gong ji/rooster

Hao Shi Duo /costco
ding hao/wellcome
Jia Le Fu/Carrefour

Lao ban zai bu zai/Is the manager here?
Wo zhi shi kan yi kan/I'm just looking

OK, just going to copy out of my book now for practice.
ping guo/apple
ba le/guave
pu tao/grapes
xiang jiao/banana
xiang gua/cantaloupe
ning men/lemon
man gui/mango
mu gua/papaya
bai xiang guo/passionfruit
feng li/pineapple
cao mei/strawberry
Ju zi/tangerine
xi gua/watermelon

I knew most of the fruits already, which surprised me. Now veggies:
gao li cai (cabbage)
dou ya/sprouts
hua ye cai/broccoli (hua means flower, ye means grandpa, like in Kai Lan, ye ye. SO brocolii is flower grandpa)
hua cai is cauliflour.
yu mi/corn
si ji dou/green bean
cong/green onion
qing jiao/green pepper
yang cong/onion
ma ling shu/potato
bo cai/spinich
fan qie/tomato

another cool thing about Chinese and animals is that there is only one word to add to any animal to make it the meat product. No beef, pork, poultry in Chinese, only the word ro which means meat. Niu ro = cow meat = beef. Ma ro = horse meat (to which Annabelle my teacher laughs and says, not in Taiwan, only Japan! ha ha)

mian bao/bread
quin mai mian bao/whole wheat bread
Ni yao mai she me? What do you want to buy?
Wo yao mai shui guo. I want to buy fruit.

ling quian/ change (small money)

Ni yao mai ji ge? How many do you want to buy?

nong chang/farm

dong wu/animals
dong wi yuan/zoo (animal place)
chong wu/pet
ke ai xiao dong wu/cute little animals (I kid you not, this is apparently a way to categorize animals in Chinese!!)

OK< enough. But that actually does help me a lot! Maybe more Chinese blogging in the future?

Google?

2010-04-25T00:47:00.003+08:00

This will demonstrate some of my handicaps in the area of technology and current events, but does anyone else ever not get the google art? You know, the different ways they write google at www.google.com. I got earth day, but what is the spaceship all about? Is there anywhere to go find an explanation?

2010-04-22T21:48:00.002+08:00

Ugg, been so tired at night lately and falling asleep at 9:00. No fun! Got to wake up.

True to spring, it is flying by. April is almost over and it has hardly begun. Music festival, BIG concert, Chris going to Europe (more on this later), then it will be June and we come home! (June 14, by the way!) My friend Sheila will have a C section tomorrow morning at 7am. My sister will have a baby in a month, and my friends Audrey and Sandra are also having babies this summer. Some people we know are branching into the world of THREE, AKK! Sounds crazy, although I admit I am starting to get my sanity back now that Guinness is one. You will NOT be seeing the stork flying over the McKenzie house anytime maybe ever again, so don't think WE"RE on that bandwagon.

Saw the movie UP yesterday. I like it. Great voices. Awesome filmmaking. I also liked Kevin, the mommy bird. I didn't get the dogs though.

More on Bali. It was beautiful. We had fun. We would of had more fun without the kids. Every minute was go go go; wake up, change diaper, change clothes, apply sunscreen, pack for the pool (which means swimsuits x2, sunscreen, hats x2, coverups x2 towel, water, room key, snacks), go to breakfast, go to the pool, apply sunscreen to everyone, change into swim clothes, walk up to the potty, find a spot, set up the pack n play, play with kids, drink water reapply sunscreen have a snack..... All this before 10am and it was exhausting. Other stressful times were like the time we got stuck in traffic on the way to dinner. It was the day we arrived, so we had gotten up at 6:30, spent 5 hours on a plane, just got set up in our hotel and then got in taxis to go for dinner. It was late. The kids hadn't eaten much. And the traffic was BAD. So we waited. And waited. And crawled along. I had a small bag of cheerios and half a bottle of water; we hadn't even had time to go to a convenience store yet at this point and hadn't unpacked the suitcase yet so the diaper bag was not ready. And I didn't know we'd wait 45 minutes in the hotel lobby for everyone to get there. And that a 10 minute drive to the restaurant would take 45. So at 7:30 and we were just ordering food and the kids were crying my stress levels were HIGH. And the culture shock of it all, too; I didn't know where we were or how to get back to the hotel, I didn't speak the language, I had no Balinese money yet... Fortunately that was as bad as it got and the rest of the trip although busy was nice. OUr friends are the BEST and helped out so much. Gemma played in the hotel daycare for an hour when we shopping and that was great. Hopefully our next vacay will be just the two of us.

K, bedtime!

Volunteer

2010-04-14T22:24:00.002+08:00

I wonder what it feels like to be a volunteer.

Meaning that, I am always the one desperate for volunteers and I wonder what it would be like to come into some harried persons classroom/office/etc and say 'Hey, I'm here to complete _____ task", sit down, get it done, and walk away.

Things I need volunteers for regularly:
typing students names
chaperoning trips
costume making in all sorts of forms
painting/tracing/large art projects for concerts
supervising
playing piano (bass, flute, percussion, trumpet, etc)
watching my kids
nursery at church

Some lovely mothers made 17 train conductor hats today out of blue paper and baseball hats. The hats were leftover from the white turkey costume of 3 years ago and the blue paper had been pinstriped with white paint by the grade 1s the day before. It is amazing what you can make out of paper.

2010-04-12T22:57:00.002+08:00

Sometimes I feel bad because when I order food the Taiwanese clerk stick 3 or 4 plastic spoons or chopsticks or whatever in the bag, assuming its for sharing when in actuality it is all for me :)

Home

2010-04-05T20:55:00.002+08:00

Wow.

We are home.

We are all sick. Colds and runny noses and my kids have the silliest hoarse voices, its so cute and pathetic at the same time.

Must tidy up so the Easter Bunny can come, and I can allow the nightime cold capsules to knock me into oblivion until 6:30 tomorrow.

When I am back on I will blog about vacations with children.

Pheww

2010-03-02T21:00:00.003+08:00

We were about to declare a state of emergency here because of a lost passport. Guinness', of all people. 'Cause he uses it so often, right? We are going to Bali for Easter and so needed to send the passports to the travel agent, and all of ours were there except for the little man. ???????? It was so weird. That's the problem of being organized; if something isn't in the right place you are pooched because you have no fall back places. So ok, I was trying to think back, where did I have it last? I took it for renewal in October. I took mine and the kids to the trade office, and the lady said that his had one more year so it didn;t need to be renewed and so all of his stuff should have been all together in an envelope, on the important papers shelf. I knew where mine and Ge's was because it got mailed back in December, the 16th to be exact, which I know because it is all still in that envelope in the important papers box. So were were freaking out because of Bali in 3 weeks, and his ARC is up for renewal which also means passport, and I looked EVERYWHERE. I was totally bummed, frustrated, annoyed, scared.... And the more I thought about where I had it last the more panicked I got because I realized what else was missing; a copy of his birth certificate, his Chinese birth certificate, his new passport photos. Where was all that stuff?

So I prayed and prayed and we prayed at staff meeting this morning and I was trying not to be doubtful and pray 'too much' (if there is such a thing) but I knew I had prayed for it and I just had to wait and so I gulped down my snack here and set to work checking the shelf one more time. And there it all was, in an envelope, just as it should be. So I am so thankful to God and so relieved and wow. I can sleep tonight!

Time Traveller's Wife

2010-02-21T22:50:00.002+08:00

I watched The Time Traveller's Wife this week. And it was good, I liked it. A few holes, obviously. I mean time travel is pretty tricky stuff, but a good story. I guess what I liked the most about it was the commitment shown by the characters. She LOVED him no matter what. Even when she was mad, even when he disappeared on their wedding day, they would just talk about it, make a solution or a compromise and move on. She still married him and did nice things for him... It made me think that I could be a much better wife. I mean, yes my husband sometimes leaves his basketball shoes on the floor, but he's never dissolved into thin air, leaving me alone for months or years at a time. If she can put up with time travel then surely I can be a little more gracious to my own hubby who works so hard and is there for me and our family.

Hmmm, is this totally ridiculous?

Happy Chinese New Year

2010-02-18T22:52:00.002+08:00

Happy Year of the Lao Hu (tiger).

This break I did not preface it with a long list of things I want to do. My one and only goal was simple; to have a nap everyday. And I have been successful in completing my goal. Everything else I got done is a bonus!

The big job that HAD to get done was the office. The couch cushions were getting moldy (eww!) and since we moved here we have not liked the set up. It all started when the closets we have for our master bedroom didn't fit down the hallway into the new master bedroom. So we had to take apart the office closet and put it in the MB, and move those closets to the office and after all that FUN of moving we left them the first place they fell. As we got used ot the space we realized they should be switched places with the bookshelves, which of course would mean emptying the bookshelves, etc etc... ANYWAY. The closets and bookshelves are switched, and look great. It made a big difference in the space. The couch cushion covers are freshly washed and dryed (screw you dry clean only labels, ha ha) and the cushions have been liberally sprayed with lysol. There are two piles of junk and papers to go through, and then order will resume. Yay!

It has rained every day this week. But we are having a nice time anyway.

Chris and I had date night and went to the Van Gogh exhibit. So cool to see the progression of his work, and his drawings and paintings that are over a hundred years old. Amazing. Chris and I both really liked it.

Well, time to put the covers back on the cushions. Maybe those labels will get the best of me after all.

Readings of late

2010-01-10T21:29:00.003+08:00

Been meaning to blog for ages, and of course now that I have time can't seem to remember what about... Hmmm...

1) I read The Alchemist over Christmas break. Only read if you have free time and are a fast reader, otherwise don't waste your time. It was interesting and the end made me laugh, but yah, not worth the effort. SPOILER ALERT: So it's about a boy who is a shepherd in medieval times, and has a dream that he is going to find a great treasure. So basically its about he he gives up everything he has in search of this great treasure, thus completing his higher purpose in the universe. Lots of goofy language, like 'the wind of the soul' and 'heart of the earth' stuff, and I think it supposed to be very philisophical and deep. Except for the ending which totally made laugh, and maybe I missed something, but if I had to summarize the ending I would say that he finally gets to the end of his journey, he's lost all his money and finds himself almost beaten to death, robbed again, when he is told, "You left your homeland and lost all your possessions and money, and gave years to this journey because of a dream? You big dummy!" I know, super funny right?

2) watched the movie Paper Heart. Very good. It has actors form Juno in it, and they were very endearing.

3) Read 'How to Solve your child's sleep problems.' (by Richard Ferber). An excellent read. I particularly liked how he was not judgemental. He was very encouraging and kind; hope giving. Since reading it I have been tackling Gemma's sleep problems, and am into phase II of sleep training. Phase I was sit at the end of her bed. Phase II is sit outside the door. Phase III will be enforce this until summer so we NEVER go back to mommy has to lay down with her to go to sleep. I now consider myself a sleep expert, having read a few books on the subject and raising two children, the first whom we did everything WRONG with and is a terrible sleeper, and one who we did everything right with and is a great sleeper. In summary of Ferber's book, a good night's sleep is dependant on sleep associations. A child has to fall asleep by themselves in the place they will sleep all night with the things they sleep with all night. All people wake up slightly between sleep cycles. We do this to make sure we are ok and safe. An adult might notice if the pillow has fallen on the floor, or if a light has been left on. We fix the problem, go back to sleep, or if there is no problem we go back to sleep without even realzing we were awake. If a child falls asleep with mommy, when they transition from one sleep stage to the next and have that slight wake up, they look around and realize that mommy isn't there and this counts as a wrong. So they wake up. And try to fix the situation. In cases of confusional arousal, like Gemma has, where they wake up yelling and crying and thrashing, but aren't really awake, its their body literally being half asleep and half awake. Part of the body wants to wake up and part wants to sleep. And the big kicker I got after reading like 250 pages of this book was that there is not much you can do for that, and most kids outgrow it before they are 6, having good sleep assoiciations can help. PLUS I am just ready to have my evenings back. So anyway, if your child has sleep problems check it out.

4) Been reading psalms lately, and halve been in the 80s-90s. Some great material there. 'The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.' Psalm 87:15 (I think). Hmmmm, so warm and fuzzy feeling.

Vacation

2009-12-30T23:45:00.002+08:00

We had a great vacation! A few highlights:

1) Chris got his license, so no taxi ride to main station, lugging all our luggage around, etc. He brought the van to our place, and left at or schedule. He drove us all to Taichung, and then into the mountains, which was super nice.

2) The mountains were AWESOME, so beautiful. We even saw snow, if you can count snow capped mountains in the distance. Oh, and some snow on the hood of a car that must have driven down from said mountains. We were in the clouds and above the clouds, it was so pretty.

3) There were some condensation issues with our skylights, so we all got an upgrade to the really nice rooms; way more space and HUGE bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs. Gemma and Guinness LOVED their bath, I put about 2 inches of water in and Guin crawled and splashed all over the place, and then Gemma and I had a nice hot jacuzzi together with the jets and everything. Such a nice treat.

4) I am still making good on my new years resolution to eat more Chinese food. We had Chinese breakfast every morning and hot pot every night. Chinese breakfast = hashbrowns, onion rings, tomatoes, raisins, corn, toast, and spagetti. Yes, spagettit for breakfast. And you know those frozen bags of mixed vegetables? With that in it.

Glad to be home now, need to super clean the house to make it through the next few weeks till Chinese New Year. The second half of the year will fly by.

HUmbled

2009-12-24T21:48:00.003+08:00

Wow, it has been such a nice Christmas already. I am almost speechless at how wonderful its been, and how much love we've been given. Despite my inadequacies, which were all to apparent today (if you've read Gemma's blog...) I still have a family that loves me and friends who love me and of course, this being Christmas Eve, a God that decided to put his own son down on earth as a little baby for us. Wow. I don't deserve it.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Vacation ???

2009-12-23T01:57:00.002+08:00

I love vacation, but why oh why does Gemma think vacation = pester mommy to DEATH! I love my daughter but I can not play every second of the day. Why is it that by the time we have children we have too many responsibilities to do stuff with them? Dishes, laundry, work, feeding other baby, shopping. It's only day 2 and Gemma wistfully said, "Is Annabelle coming to play with me?" Which of course cuts my heart as a parent, but also makes me want to raise a girl who knows the world does not revolve around her.

Anyway...

I love Taiwan and most things about it, but here is something I hate: shopping. There is no Walmart here, so I can't get everything at one place. We don't have a car, which is normally fine but then at this time of year when you want to go to a bunch of different places you are the the mercy of public transport. 90% of the year this is fine but for example my shopping needs for the next two days include 5 stops, all far away from eachother. (For those of you who speak Taipei-ese JingMei, Shilin, Shida and Gonguan.) Although none of these are hard to get to really, the time constraints are stretching my patience. Thankfully Chris and I had a great experience at Toys R Us, and they even gift wrapped our stuff. I found what I needed at JingMei, and now know where to buy basic Taiwanese kids clothes. Pray tomorrow goes equally well. I'm going to try and cram two trips into tomorrow. Gulp!

I am really happy with what we got the kids. As I was wrapping presents tonight I was feeling very thankful that there are gifts that my kids will love under the tree, and that there is even more than 1 gift. It is such a blessing to be able to provide things for our kids. And of course, a huge thank you to my Dad and Sheri, and Baba, who also bought wonderful things for the kids. It will be an awesome Christmas at the McKenzie house. (PRAY PRAY PRAY I get what Chris wants for Christmas tomorrow; there is only one Adidas store with his size left so pressure is on!)

Holidays!

2009-12-17T23:12:00.003+08:00

Yay! Tomorrow is a half day and its holiday time! I realize I may have been a bit down in my last post... Emotions are so tricky. Last night I had a great sleep, and with holidays finally here I feel a hundred times better!

We've been studying The Nutcracker in music and it is awesome! Such a great story, especially for rowdy boys: they LOVE the war with the mouse king, and today we watched video. Ballet is not something I have much experience with but I loved this one. I think knowing the music so well and the story, too, made it so much more exciting. The kids were totally into it, too. Most of them had probably never seen ballet, and were intrigued by the different movements, and were carefully watching how the story was told through the dance. It was really neat.

Crazy life

2009-12-14T02:26:00.002+08:00

This week was insane, way to much going on and bringing me to near breaking point this morning. Why do I do so much? Why do I say yes? Why do I have good ideas of stuff to do? I like to do stuff is my problem, and I want to do fun things. But I really need to SLOW DOWN! Anyway, enough about that. Still processing what changes can and need to take place. I just think that people must look at me and say, "What a crazy lady!!!" I am always rushing off somewhere, with twelve bags and two children and a stroller and a water bottle and and and, late for this, didn't have time to get that, my hair a mess and clothes spotted... man.

FINALLY got the floors done; they haven't been mopped in a week, FINALLY got the dishes done, FINALLY got the laundry folded and put away that has been on the couch for two weeks. Of course, there are two more loads to be folded now, and a queue at the machine. I didn't blend the carrots that are in the fridge that I cooked last week, so I hope they are still good. I didn't wash the fridge, which I kind of need to do because for Gemma's birthday I made yellow cake that calls for 16 eggs yolks (it was a double batch) and so I saved all the egg whites, thinking I may make an omelette or whatever. Yah right. The bowl got pushed further and further back in the fridge until it finally hit the gap between the shelf and the back of the fridge, tipped, and leaked egg white all down the back of my fridge, pooling at the bottom. For the first week it was really sticky and everything you put there got sticky but now it has crystalized into this crusty powder. Suffice to say that the fridge needs to be cleaned. (and all the jars on the bottom shelf.)

Going to have a babyfood making party with a friend this week, which I am pumped about. I need to get off my parenting island and hear about other ideas from the outside world.

Pheww

2009-12-05T13:03:00.004+08:00

Another Elementary Christmas Concert is done! Praise the Lord, it went well. It wasn't too short, the performances went very good, and there were no emergencies. It was a stressful week getting ready; I literally worked all day every day, sometimes not even having time to turn my computer on until 11am. Friday I was so stressed, I had knots in my stomach and my heart was racing so I got some water and my peanut butter sandwich I made for lunch and took a 5 minute facebook break. Watched the Guinness video, checked out the cake pictures (again; I'm so proud) and the tackled the rest of the day. Miraculously everything got done in time and it was wonderful. Hoping to see some video next week of the result. I find when I am conducting I am concentrating so much on the music and the cues that I don't get the overall effect.

So back to my favourite topic of the week; the cake. I am so happy with how it turned out, and even if I never make fondant again I will always be glad I tried it once. It was a lot of work, but once the all the little pieces were made Gemma even helped me glue them on: purple purple purple pink. Purple purple purple Blue. Oh, and after the stress of covering the cake was over, too. I made little cakes so I wouldn't have to roll out such a big piece. It was 2 6 inch rounds stacked and then I baked about a 4 1/2 round in my metal lunch tin. It worked awesome! And then I had small circles to cover, so that was not too bad. I had a few lumps around the bottom, where the pleats fell, and one tear but I covered it up with a polka dot instead of starting over. I was so nervous to try fondant and did not want to have a disaster, and once I came to the decision to make a little cake it seemed do-able.

I made marshmallow fondant because I can't find corn syrup here. 4 cups of marshmallows, 2 tbps of water, melt in the microwave, stir till smooth, then 4 cups of powdered sugar. And by 4 cups I mean about 5 or 6. I added cup after cup after cup of suagr, because it was SOOO sticky and finally it started to hold together. I colored some with the wilton extracts and some with food coloring; I was also nervous about using food coloring but it worked fine. Just keep adding sugar, keep dusting your hands and the table. It was DELICIOUS to eat (but very sweet, as you can imagine).

What else can I tell you? Adrienne watched the kids all afternoon, so I spent about 4 hours Sunday afternoon and another hour Sunday night finishing it up. Will I do it again? Maybe. There were lots of fondant 'peelings' on the plates at the party, maybe its too sweet for little mouths and I hate waste. And of course, 5 hours isn't always practical. But it was fun.

So gross

2009-11-22T23:46:00.002+08:00

I got to sleep in till 8:00 this morning, which was awesome. Except that both kids peed the bed, which was not so good. Guinness has been using grocery store diapers, not his costco pampers and he has some leak issues. Today he was wet all the way up his front practically to his neck. And Gemma, well, sometimes she has accidents.

So both kids needed a bath, there was no avoiding it. Filled the tub, trying to get Guinness the wiggle worm clean, Gemma happily playing, and I sniff. There was a definite odor of poop. So I am looking in the tub, all around the water..nothing! I look to my right into Guin's diaper on the floor... nothing! I think, maybe it was a fart, who knows, and I keep washing. But no, the smell does not go away. So I am really looking in the water now, check the diaper to my right again, and then look left on the floor. There is poop smeared all around. And on my sock!!! I guess when I pulled Guin's nappie off, a little turd fell out on to the floor, and I proceeded to squish and squash it on the floor. Ewwww!!!!!!!

totally busy week

2009-11-21T23:42:00.002+08:00

Wow, another Christmas concert season is upon us and, lo and behold, I am busy. I don't think I should go back and read my blog archives because I would see how boring and predictable I am!

It was a busy week. I worked hard every day, did a lot for school and at home; Gemma's 3rd birthday is next week so sent out some invitations and did some planning. Thursday went on an awesome date with my hubby to Teinmou (essentially foriegner central of Taipei) for a dance production at the American school there, and it was awesome! While there, we went to a grocery store that features hard to find western groceries (Wellman's), and had the best cheeseburgers...Mary's Hamburgers since 1979. It was just like the perfect hot rink burger (which may not sound that great to you, but here, wow. Tastes like home.)

Friday I rushed home after school, packed the kids up as quick as possible (1 hour) and hustled to the HighSpeedTrain to go to Taichung for a concert at the school there. Andy and Audrey picked us up and then watched the kids while I attended the concert, which was unfortunately shortened due to two cases of H1N1 in the 5th grade class and them being sent home from school earlier that day. The rest of Friday night and Saturday was spent relaxing with the Wu's; admiring the skills and good looks of eachother's children, catching up on the news, sharing thoughts and ideas, and one of the things I miss most about Audrey being gone; crafting! We cut out 10 little backpacks out of purple felt, fronts and backs and started hot glueing them together (till I killed the glue gun; doh). They are going to be the treat bags for Gemma's party on the 30th. It was fun to do, and I wish I had Audrey's help to finish; she did all the eyes too, so more than her share but is more fun to work with someone. Audrey has always been the brains of my craft operations. I can think of ideas but she can make them better, draft out the patterns, and make them look nice. She is very neat and organized and can think things through way better than me. We've done some pretty cool projects together over the years.

I have a to do list that takes me till the 30th. I tried to spread out my party tasks, etc, so it snot all lumped together, but we'll see. To do this week:
-mail presents home
-finish backbacks
-make other decorations
-passport photos, applications, and a trip to the trade office. Ugggg.
-big thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. YAY!
-make and decorate cupcakes for a friend/family party at our thanksgiving dinner,
-make and decorate cake for Monday's party. I am going to try fondant. Gulp!
-wrap presents
-shop for treat bags and party snacks

Wish me luck!

So busy

2009-11-14T00:01:00.003+08:00

There has been so much going, and I have had lots of random little things to comment on.

1) HINI vaccine
Hmmm, I just deleted my thoughts about this. Why start an argument I don't care to finish? I am vaccinating my kids when the public health people come to school next Friday. On to the next...

2) Reasons I love my job
I have had the privilege of listening to some GREAT music lately. I am starting to take more seriously the music listening aspect of music education (partly due to my Nevada and Bruce project) and in this week alone listened to Charlotte Church (13 year old opera, not 20 year old pop), Holst (Bleak Midwinter, and 2nd Suite March), Sousa (Stars and Stripes, Washington Post, and Semper Fidelis, Bleak Midwinter by a variety of singers, and 'Who will Buy' from Oliver. I've listened to Bleak Midwinter about a dozen times, as we are playing a great arrangement of it in Symphonic Band, and I'm really getting into the text. You know, good music stands the test of time. The poem was written in 1872, published in 1904, and then set to music by Holst in 1906. How did one poem out of hundreds of thousands of published poem rise above? How has the music Holst set it to remained a choral standard done by dozens of artists to this day? Because it is AWESOME!!!! Even young children can recognize good music. Pop music is fun, and kids songs are fun, but if you can put a 6 year old down in front of a concert DVD and have them watch spellbound, mouths agape, you know that is good music. (As we did in Kindergarten with Charlotte church singing Panis Angelicus this week.) The kids didn't care that it was opera, or that it was in a language they couldn't understand. They could tell they were witnessing something magical and wonderful and bigger than themselves. Same with my 10 year olds in beginner band, in our week long study of Sousa and other marches. When 2nd suite in F came on, the march movement, they listened. Because somewhere in their brain they know what good music is. Something I learned in college or a conference once was how important music selection is. Band teachers should not just pick pop tunes. Yes, they are fun and catchy and people like them, but those band concerts may be the only classical music that people hear and we have a job to educate people and give them GOOD music. (I think you can still play music for fun, by the way. It's about having a well balanced diet.)

Some resources to help you:

Absolutely the BEST most fun book for teaching classical music to kids I've used. The lyrics are so cute and fun to sing, and they've included music with awesome stories. (It comes with CDs) That's the other part of classical music people don't always realize; the stories are great. If you love stories and music you need these books (volume 1 and 2) (I've had a few email conversations with this author, she is incredibly sweet, too.)

In the Bleak Midwinter (Corrine May; yes, better than Sarah) The text for this is very moving. Spend some time with it.

The Washington Post March, (by Sousa)
Sousa is wonderful clean the house music or marching music (of course!)

2nd suite in F, March (by Holst) And, FYI, when we played this in college I played the baritone solo. :) The good ol days!

Other Holst that is awesome is Mars, from the planets and Jupiter. (I also bought Mars for my band to play, but am saving it for next year when my two tubas are in senior band)

You will be surprised at what your kids will love if you give them the chance.

And, while I am on the topic, youtube has been my favorite teaching tool in the last two years. We have smartboards, and all kinds of other technology, but youtube has been so great a music educator. Instead of listening to a cheesy children's choir sing This land is my land on CD, we've watched Woodie Guthrie sing it. Instead of reading about Milt Hinton, we've watched Milt Hinton. Same with Gershwin. I have no idea what the legalities are of putting things up but I've sure learned a lot and been exposed to some great stuff. Anyway, starting to get into controversy again so I will stop.

Some people say conflict is good. I am still not sold on that. (And don't try and convince me, either! Let's all just play nice and be happy. All the time.)

Plus and Minus

2009-11-02T22:26:00.002+08:00

So an update about my caffiene addiction

It's good because
1) I have energy throughout the day.
2) I can stay awake longer than Gemma
3) It makes me less hungry, which is good because I don't always have time to eat lunch

It's bad because
1) If I don't have a tea I get a headache
2) I am spending more money than I did before (Not an expensive habit, but more than no habits)
3) I can't spell cafienne

My trip to the doctor

2009-10-15T11:20:00.004+08:00

I went to the doctor today; I seem to have caught what Guinness has and now can hardly swallow. So I am home from school. Anyway, my trip to the doctor...

You already know I have a few qualms about the doctor I have taken the kids to. But for as awful as his medicine tastes, it always helps, he is nice, he is consistent, he is close by... and since he just treated Guin I decided to go there too. He looks at my throat, pronounces it a throat infection, and I walk out to wait for my prescription. Well, while I was waiting, he calls me back into the room. And says he wants to show me some exercises...And then he does the moonwalk!!! And so I smile enthusiastically and clap (come on, a 55 year old little Taiwan doctor moonwalking in his office! It's hilarious!) Then he showed me some other moves he's been working on. Some step dancing stuff, and some tap moves. I asked him if he was in a club and he said, no, he's been learning from this book. He grabs it from off his desk and shows me; The Tap Dancing Dictionary.

Have you ever gone to a doctors office where the doctor learns tap dancing from a book in between patients?

Maybe I am delerious...better go lie down.

Food for thought

2009-10-14T23:28:00.002+08:00

I am reading Boundries in Marriage, by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. Lots of good thoughts in it, but one jumped out at me tonight, so thought I'd throw it out there for you:

Parenting is temporary, and marriage is permanent.