can't wait to go tomorrow!

I got a new gadget.  I'm so excited about it, I can barely stand it.  I am bursting at the seams.

Heart rate monitor!

I have been running for nearly 3 years now.  I run inside when it's cold, outside when it's nice and inside when it gets too hot.  I'm not necessarily a serious runner.  Just enjoy 30 minutes of "me" time and the side effects of my selfishness aren't bad either.  But now, oh but now.  Everything's a changin'!

My very good friend who is also a runner (the serious race running type) had this little watch-like thing on her wrist when I saw her running the other day.  "A heart rate monitor," she said it was.  She told me she loved it and about all the things it did.  I didn't think I really needed such a thing.  Too fancy for a recreational runner, like myself.  But then...

I bought one.  And I'm in love with it!  How have I been running (even recreationally) for all this time without one?  I cannot wait to run tomorrow so I can use it again.  (maybe this will up my year-to-date miles)  Maybe I'll even do a race...oh can you imagine?  Love it, love it, love it!!!!

menu plan monday 12 July 2009

Hard to believe I'm planning my third week of meals in the US and I have yet to even purchase a can of cream of anything soup.

This is a short week for us. You can see by the countdown clock that we depart for some R&R in Jamaica on Thursday morning bright and early! That means only 3 nights of meals to plan. And (best of all) I have meat in the freezer, so need to visit the boucherie this week. yahoo! Maybe just some fresh produce and viola!

Monday - chicken on the grill, corn on the cob, rice
Tuesday - Jeanine's famous lasagna, green salad and baguette
Wednesday - hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, tator tots and fruit salad

And then on to Beaches Resort in Jamaica for 6 nights of relaxation, diving, swimming, playing...ahhhhhh

bon appétit!

laundry complaint...again.

Laundry.  The household chore that seems to be the most dreaded.  For me at least.  I dislike laundry I think because it is rarely done.  And just when I think it's caught up, it's not.  

I have complained on many occasions about how much more I dislike the chore of laundry in Switzerland. ( I would link to my way-too-many complaining posts about the subject, but frankly I was scared to see how many there might really be.)  Swiss laundry is made more dislikeful (as if that's a word) because of the itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny washing machine and dryer that I have.  And believe me, I have the biggest they offer.  And also the wash cycle takes forever and the dryer (if you can even say that it gets the clothes dry) takes forever.  Laundry literally takes forever.  Not really.  But, each day I fill up that little tiny washing drum at least three times and barely make any headway.  It's just nonstop.  And, that seems complaint worthy.  Although I am grateful to not be heading down to the lake to rub our clothes on a rock. ;)

So laundry in America.  Wow!  I just keep putting clothes in that machine and it seems there is just so much space to keep on adding more dingy clothes.  I actually had to go and gather more laundry today from around the house to fill the machine today.  It's simply amazing.  Like a reverse clown car.  And fast.  Lightning McQueen's got nothing on my Maytag.  Loads are in and out in no time.  

But I've discovered one problem...because the loads are SO large, folding and putting away takes for.ev.er.  The dryer finished the first load of the day and I happily piled the load into a basket for folding.  And I folded and folded and folded and folded and...  And then I put away and put away and put away and...  Seems when you can only fit three towels in the washing machine, folding and putting away those three towels is done in a snap.  

So here I am.  Complaining that my washing machine is just too big and folding just takes too long.  Guess I'm never satisfied...am I?  Maybe I should quit complaining?  Perhaps.  But then what would I post?  just kidding, I'm sure I could come up with something.  But instead complaining about laundry seems somehow post worthy.   But no matter what, whether I complain or refrain,  I will never like laundry.  

what i find amazing

We've been back in the US for less than 2 weeks, enjoying nearly every single moment of our summer holiday thus far.  We have enjoyed visiting with many wonderful friends and have had some wonderful meals - well, actually just delicious beef really.  The veggies leave a bit to be desired.  The kids have nearly completely lost their British-isms, although the boys were singing about batman and robin on the football pitch while shooting hoops, but oh, well.  And it's just beyond relaxing to be able to understand what everyone's saying - all the time!  Love that!  But I have been caught off-guard by somethings since we've been here (and we're just on vacation for all who have thought we've moved home for good...we're going back across the ocean in late August to resume Swiss life for another year).  So here's what I've discovered, in no particular order:

• some people in America are just as rude as some people living in Europe.  *gasp*  I know you never thought that would be my first bullet, did you?  You were thinking more along the lines of Lucky Charms?  I'll get to that in a bit, don't worry.  But people.  People.  For some reason I kind of thought it was just those Swiss and French who didn't know how to wait in line or take turns or be polite, but I've seen plenty of those same kind of folks around here. 
• pay-at-the-pump.  I'm so serious, best invention EVER!  I don't have to worry about leaving the kids in the car while I run in to pay.  I don't have to remember (in French) how much gas I put in the car.  I just stick my debit card in, pump, and go!  GENIUS!
• grocery stores.  O.K.  I'm nearly over my completely overwhelmed feeling in the grocery store, although the choices are a bit mind boggling.  Now my problem lies in two primary areas - produce and bags.  In Switzerland (& France) the shopper weighs their own produce, enters the number of the produce and sticks on a bar code that prices the item their buying.  When they check out, the cashier simply scans the bar code.  I keep looking around the produce department for the scales and Ashley keeps wanting to stick on the bar codes.  And bags.  Bags.  I know, I have complained about bags since the day we moved to Switzerland.  I never can remember to bring my bags and I forget them in the car and then I have to buy new ones for $0.30 a bag.  And now...I feel guilty for taking bags.  I really feel like I should be paying for them.  Really. 

And last (for tonight)

• portion sizes.  Wow!  Mega-Grande Humongo.  I am in awe at how much food can be put on a plate in front of me at one sitting.  Perhaps I have become more French than I would EVER care to admit.  But I really like my tiny, yet INCREDIBLY tasty little meals in Switzerland and France.  
• Oh, and I still LOVE LUCKY CHARMS!!!!!  Love, love, love.  May need to ship it back in the fall.  maybe lots of it.  

America's great.  America's huge.  REALLY HUGE!  I can't get over how wide the streets are, how big the parking places are, how much room there is.  It's a beautiful and incredible place.  And I'm loving it!

menu plan monday -6 July 2009

Meal planning time again.  Last week was spent getting back into the swing of American life.  The grocery store was completely overwhelming - the selection and variety baffled me.  I stood staring at margarine for a few minutes trying to select a variety and size.  Of margarine.  Margarine.  Oh, the decisions...

I seem to have found my way now and had absolutely no trouble navigating the grocery store yesterday (amazing that stores are open on Sunday!)  Ash and I made quick work of the shopping and found all kinds of "treasures" to enjoy this week.  Only difficulty - I felt guilty bagging my groceries without paying for the bags I was using.  Guilt ridden.  I'm sure I'll get over that too.

So this week, our menu looks like this...

Monday - pork tenderloin with dijon/herb rub, roasted root vegetables, french baguette.  

Tuesday - lemon pepper chicken on the grill, rice, corn on the cob

Wednesday - steak, baked potatoes, fresh summer salad

Thursday - life group BBQ!

Friday - Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, tator tots, strawberry jello pretzel salad (!)

Nothing too exciting, but I'm sure easy and delicious nonetheless.  Have a great week and bon appétit!

check out more menu ideas and recipes at orgjunkie.com

silly

Alex had his best American friend over to play this afternoon.  During dinner, Ashley (always one to make sure there's plenty of conversations) asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.  

"A zoo keeper.  What about you?" - friend

"A crossing guard." - Ashley

"A crossing guard?  They don't make any money." - friend

"Crossing guards are o.k. jobs in Switzerland." - James

"Well, here we call that community service!" - friend.

I'm baaaaccccckkkkkk

We made it!  We flew out last Saturday morning and have been enjoying settling in for the summer ever since.  Minnesota is just as we remembered it, although everyone's children seem to have grown by leaps and bounds and the mosquitos are more annoying than I remember them being.  But besides that, all is perfect.

***

I learned an important lesson about flying on this trip.  And really there's no reason that I shouldn't have known this "rule" already, but for whatever reason, I did not.  But now I do.  Do not, under any circumstances wear white whilst flying.  Never.  Ever.  Ever.  We arrived to the Geneva Airport at some hour when no human should be up and about.  Not wanting to dirty anything in my incredibly clean Swiss home, we opted for no coffee.  No Coffee and 4:30am taxi rides...not a good combo.  So Starbucks (yes, they have recently added a Starbucks to the Geneva Airport - hooray) was a calling.  Mocha, s.v.p.!  We sat down to enjoy our pastries and coffee.  I lifted my cup of deliciousness to my mouth and felt warmth on my stomach.  For a brief moment I wondered "well, what on earth could that be?"  Then it dawned on me - delicious, warm, brown mocha.  Sure enough.  The barista had failed to put the lid securely on my to-go cup and when I tilted it for that first amazing sip, drip all down my white blouse.  Are you kidding me?  We haven't even boarded our first flight and already I'm covered in yuck.  No white shirts.  period.  Everywhere I went over the next 12 hours, my brown spotted, drizzly white shirt went ahead of me.  Luckily when traveling with 3 children, there's always an excuse as to why stuff is dribbled on your front.  :)

*****

Security was fun that day too.  The Geneva Airport is never very crowded (or so we thought) especially at the crack of daylight.  But on this morning, well, everyone was getting out of town, I guess.  The lines were so long.  Never seen them like that before.  We weren't pressed for time, but still a 15-20 minute security line with 3 tired, yet overly excited children is never necessarily fun.  We waited in the line, inching forward to the screeners.  As usually happens in Europe (maybe everywhere, but annoyingly so in Europe) we found our usual cast of "line?  oh, I don't need to stand in line" folks.  They come in every shape and size, every tongue and nation and feel no need to wait in any line, any line.  they get into the line where ever they feel like and pretend not to understand that there is a line that they've just cut in.  Love 'em!  This particular day held it's share of usual cutters and one, well, over the top!  

She was in her 50's, I would guess, although her hair tightly pulled into a bun and beautiful red and purple sweater made her look much older.  (think of when I'm old I will wear purple and red...).  She tried her hardest to get into the line in front of me.  Think again, miss.  She said something in a language I don't understand (which is all of them except English, I suppose).  I looked at her bewildered and put my body in front of her, not allowing her to get in front of me in line.  She then said in english that she was late for her flight and needed to get through security quickly.  I told her we needed to get through security also and so did all the people in the line.  She got quickly angry with me and tried to push her way ahead of me.  No luck.  So she rammed her carryon (which clearly exceeded the allowed size) into Ashley's calves.  Really?  That's not winning you any points, lady!  Mama Bear was not too happy. She assured me that she hadn't done it on purpose...yeah, right.  That was that though.  Although she managed to get in line behind us and cut in front of nearly 50 people, she wasn't getting through security ahead of me.  No way.  I didn't care how late she was for her flight and if it was really boarding, she would wait behind me and my family.  Enough said.  And to put the icing on this morning - she was on our flight.  Same flight.  She wasn't late at all, just not wanting to stand in line.  Seriously!  I gave her a great big grin as she walked past us down the aisle to her seat.  hee hee

Well, we're thrilled to be back, and even more thrilled to have our internet working.  I'm back!