Spring Has Sprung, Finally?

Could it be?  Are we actually outdoors without winter coats and hats?  It seems that we might have turned the corner here in our little corner of the world.    For the past three days we have actually seen temps above 70 degrees accompanied by actual sunshine.  Sunday we got a bike ride along the Rhein in to visit our favorite babysitter who was working at the wine stand a few towns over from where we live.  Of course Evans didn't understand that she was supposed to be working and not doting on him but eventually he had a good time running around.  Believe it or not, I should have put him in a short sleeve shirt and our Master's Sunday might have been nicer than the one spectators watched in Augusta!

My car has been in the shop now for nearly three weeks.  Just one of the really fun things that we get to deal with overseas when an essential car part is out of stock or backordered.  If you ask me, I don't really think a radiator is necessary but the experts on the base do not agree.  Therefore, my car has been sitting there since April 3rd.  Today is the 18th.  You do the math.  Since Evans was on Spring Break last week we really did a whole bunch of not leaving the house.  Our neighbors commented last weekend that they were afraid that Deaner had killed me since they hadn't laid eyes on me in a week.  I'm so glad they came over to check on me!  By Friday I was actually feeling really bad for the boring week that Evans had to endure so we took a little adventure on the train to visit Daddy at work.  Nothing super exciting but I'd say after a week of excitement deprivation, he thought it was the greatest thing on earth.

I've been able to use this choo-choo train experience as leverage all week long for using the big boy potty and it's working like a charm.  Thankfully just the promise of a ride on the "mama choo-choo" is enough to encourage him.  (passenger trains = mama choo-choo's and cargo trains = dada choo-choo's, don't ask me why)

Deaner got off of work early yesterday and after picking him up at work (this whole one car thing is for the birds) we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning off our back patio and having dinner outside.

This morning I am nursing the blisters on my hands from sweeping and gazing out the window as debris is raining down onto the patio.  Might be time to invest in a leaf blower/vacuum.  So I guess I am off to play with Evans outside while the sun lasts.  Deaner just let me know that the radiator for my car came in this morning but that we can't get an appointment to have it replaced until Tuesday.  The same day we are supposed to go to Belgium.  Sigh.  One of these days I will have a functioning car again!  Happy Thursday everyone!

Potty Training Woes

When Evans started informing me a couple months ago every time he wet his diaper I figured it might be time to bite the bullet and THINK about potty training.  I mean, I'm not going to lie, I've sort of been dreading it.  Just ask my husband, I am not a fan of public restrooms and the thought of having to constantly take a two year old into one just to make sure we avoid an accident is not all that appealing to me.  I quite enjoy the convenience of having my child pee in his pants.  That being said, I realize I can't exactly let this go on forever, not to mention the cost of diapers adds up.  So with the looming threat of this upcoming government furlough, I decided that I would step it up a notch with Evans and just see what happened.  It all started off well enough.  When prompted, Evans used the potty with minimal fuss and actually seemed very proud of himself.  He went days without having an accident (when we were home) and I really started to pat myself on the back for being such a parent extraordinaire.  Then we started to slow decline into awfulness.  It started with Evans resisting me taking him to the potty.  Then it moved to him not wanting to wear the big boy pants at all and insisting on his "elmo pants" a.k.a. his diaper.  Now just the mention of going to the potty can induce a full on meltdown.  I backed off for a couple of days.  He is only two and a half after all and let's face it, he barely learned to walk by 17 months.  After a couple of days break we are back at it and things are not exactly going well.

I am pretty sure that we aren't getting anywhere.

And that my only child now hates me.  So we are sort of at a stalemate.  Deaner asks me every couple of days how the potty training is coming.  Yesterday I suggested that he take Evans to the potty when he got home from work and I was slightly satisfied when Evans went wet noodle on him, making it impossible.  The situation is not improved by the fact that tried and true bribery no longer seems to work.  Do you want FOUR M&M's?  NO.  Do you want a new Lightening McQueen?  NO.  Do you want some money?  NO.  Y'all catch my drift.

I think maybe I should start looking into other ways to save money each month.  It looks like we might be "elmo pantsing" it for awhile.

I Think I'm Cracking Up

I truly thought we had turned the corner here in Germany.  Around March every year I start to see the light at the end of the long gray tunnel that is the winter here.  Sometimes looks can be deceiving I suppose.  After a particularly mild weekend several weeks ago, Deaner and I were left walking on air in anticipation of spring time.  The wine stand on the Rhein opened the barrel weeks ahead of schedule, we actually saw the sunshine and if you pay close attention, you will see that Evans was not even wearing his heavy ski jacket.  Life was good.

And just like that, just when we were starting to feel the gloom lift, just when we could feel the life slowly returning to Germany, we woke up to this.

No warning or anything.  Nothing in the forecast about a small March blizzard because apparently this is just NORMAL around here (though to be honest, we have lived here four years and I cannot ever recall it snowing in March).  

No big deal.  Just a couple inches.  Or NINE.  Deaner's office even closed in the middle of the day so that everyone could get home.  A few days later we got another several inches without warning.  Folks, this is the kind of snow that closes down Atlanta for days.  And since I no longer live in Atlanta in a house with three awesome roommates to eat cheese puffs with and drink wine out of a box, I no longer find this all that amusing.  I truly would have rather been watching an Alias marathon than building another snowman.

I think even Evans is over the snowman since he is pitching a fit that the snowman got to wear his "baby glasses".  Deaner called me lazy for drawing the snowman's mouth with a sharpie marker.  Sorry guys, I'm definitely over the snow building and sharpie was as good as it was going to get!  

I suppose that no one ever died from a long winter and now that we are approaching April maybe we really will turn the corner.  Until then I guess we have no other choice but to bundle up!  Happy Monday! 

A Little Incident.........

Behold.  This obsessive complusive's best friend.  It's no Dyson but this trusty LG has been with me for the last three years and was a very welcome relief after my old German pull behind that it replaced.  Unfortunately tomorrow this old friend goes to the dump.  Yesterday afternoon as I was settling onto my comfortable bed to read my book while Evans napped (my very favorite time of day) I could not have been more relaxed.  Unfortunately the dust bunnies underneath my bedroom dresser caught my eye and God knows my blood pressure wasn't going to return to normal until I had vacuumed those suckers up.  You'd think that as experienced of a vacuum cleaner that I am, the rookie mistake I made would never have happened.  In a fit of using my attachment nozzle to get all the way to the wall I accidentally ran over the cord, which was promptly sucked up into the motor and chewed to shreds.  But not before the vacuum blew up, made an awful noise and shorted out the electricity in our whole house.  I think I just stood there in disbelief, amidst a cloud of dust and dirt, for several minutes while surveying the damage.  Here were my thoughts, in order, in the following seconds.
1.  Oh my god, what just happened?

2.  Oh my god, there is dirt ALL over the room, all over my face, in my eyes AND in my clean hair.

3.  Holy s*#t, I think my vacuum cleaner is a goner.

4.  Why are all the lights in the house off?

5.  Did every single piece of dirt just land back on my bedroom carpet?

6.  What in the world am I going to do?

7.  We cannot afford to buy ANOTHER vacuum cleaner.

8.  Deaner is going to kill me.

So after the dust settled (literally) I was able to collect my thoughts.  I hauled the old German pull behind vacuum out of the basement only to find that it didn't work either.  Awesome.  I resorted to a broom and a dust pan and SWEPT my carpet.  Even more awesome.  When I was finished, I hauled both broken vacuums back downstairs to be loaded into the car for the dump.  Then it dawned on me that I hadn't flipped the breaker yet which would explain the German vacuum not working.  I think the dust really affected my brain.

I'm trying to put the incident behind me.

If anyone can convince my husband to buy me a new vacuum...........I'd be much obliged.

Fasching 2013

So I might be a week (or almost two) late but I have too many cute pictures not to go ahead with a quick Fasching post.  I don't know how we have never really gotten into the German version of Mardi Gras in the past but as far as I recall, this is only our second time actively participating in the annual parades.  Of course it is more fun when you have a child to dress up (it does take the pressure off yourself) but then...........you have a dressed up child to deal with in a crowd of people.  Anyways.  This year we had a GREAT time.  It would have been even greater if the temperature had risen above 20 degrees but you can't win them all.  Our little tiny town of Hattenheim actually had a rather large parade this year.  While we faced a little bit of technical difficulty this year (we stood in front of our house which ended up being the end of the line) once the parade reached us (like two hours later) it was a lot of fun. Evans and his bud Brady had a blast watching the floats pass by our house.

Daddy had another chance to bust out the Man With The Yellow Hat costume and I was perfectly content in my non-descript down jacket and jeans.  Surprisingly, Evans and Brady mostly stayed in their seats and let the parade walkers come and place candy on their laps.  Not to bad of a deal if you ask me.  

I think Brady had the warmest costume of all though he was mistaken for a girl a few times.  I don't think it bothered him! 

I would have worn the pig costume by the time we were nice and frozen waiting on the parade to make the loop in front of our house but Ashley and I managed alright.  Though you can't tell in the least, Ashley is seven months pregnant.  Sadly, our super tactful German neighbor asked if I was the one pregnant.  I guess I had on too many layers and I might be burning this coat shortly.  (yeah, that was it)!

Sunday was even colder but we bundled up again and headed to the "big" parade in downtown Wiesbaden.  The floats were much more sophisticated and when we left 2.5 hours later there was no end in sight.  

It was a beautiful day and honestly I couldn't remember the last time we saw blue sky and the sun before last Sunday.  

We had a few small incidents with Evans "accidentally" throwing the bouncy balls that he caught which caused a couple minor breakdowns but thankfully there was a lot of loot to be caught.  I was assaulted in the noggin more than one time and if anyone is wanting parade popcorn, please come to our house.  By the time we were ready to call it quits, Evans was D-O-N-E with the parade.

I knew we were in trouble when he would suck on a pop pop for 2 minutes and then demand a new one.    I think that both Evans and Deaner have gotten their money's worth out of these Halloween costumes. 

I suppose now I am not only responsible for finding Evans a costume every year.  Of all the loot caught this year there was a clear winner to the most creative piece of candy.  Brady caught one of these in Hattenheim on Saturday and when I was going through our stash I found one of our very own.

I'm almost positive this a gummy butt.  With ears.  A butt with ears.  Need I really say more?  Can't wait for next year!  

Jealous? I Didn't Think So.....

As I was scrolling through Facebook today I couldn't help but notice all my friends who are currently in tropical locations.  My sister is lounging around the sandy white beaches of Mexico along with about 567 of my other friends.  So, I just wanted to post our weather forecast, here in Germany, for the next week.  Don't be jealous or anything.  Not everyone can live in a place that has such a stunning, low lying, steel gray cloud cover 98% of the time.  I suppose I should be feeling joy at the fact that I don't see any snow in this forecast but I don't really.  This is because despite my iPhone knowing just about all there is to know about everything, it never quite gets the weather right.  Last Friday we woke up to several inches of snow on the ground with no warning at all that it was coming.  But don't worry, this doesn't work the other way around.  There is virtually zero chance of this forecast being inaccurate the other way around.  There will be no sunshine this week.  Whilst it appears that half of the Facebook population is acquiring golden brown suntans I can only brag about the iridescent translucent glow that my skin is taking on.  It's pretty sad when I tell Evans it is time to leave for school and he looks at me and says "mittens, please Mama"?

So all you peeps sunning yourself in beautiful places.....good for y'all.  I'm not bitter.  I swear.  When I dream at night I am here....Lounging on a beach in Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Or in Lake Como, Italy.....

Or in Rome.......

Or in Santorini......(I WAS there but I cannot show my seven month [at the time] pregnant face)

Or out in the middle of the mediterranean in Cyprus.

Dear God, I wouldn't mind waking up tomorrow in late May.  Thanks, Sarah

American Idol

Ok.  It is taking a lot for me to even admit that I have been watching this show.  I think it sort of proves how slim the pickings are over on this side of the pond but none the less, Deaner and I have been tuning in via British Sky Satellite.  I have to say that my attention is more than likely going to start dwindling now that the "tryout" stage of the competition is over because once the singers are "decent" there isn't very much that is fun about this show.  Just a few observations from me thus far this year.....

1.  Randy Jackson (give or take 100 pounds) is exactly the same as ever.

2.  Not that I have ever paid that much attention to Mariah Carey in my life but when did her boobs get to be the size of boulders?  She must have an aching back at the end of every day.

3.  I am pretty sure Ryan Seacrest has gotten tinier.  I think I could fit him in my pocket.

4.  Who is Nicki Minaj?  I mean, where did she come from?  I've never even heard of her and she sounds like Fran Drescher.  All that being said, she is like the only funny judge on the show.  Her commentary cracks me up along with her absurd outfits.  EEK!

5.  Keith Urban is kind of a pansy.  I'm just saying.  I wish he would stop singing along with these contestants tryouts.  It's THEIR time to shine.  You already have four grammies.

6.  This next statement goes for all the judges.  This is an issue every. single. year.  There is no such thing as 110%.  There is no such thing as 1,000%.  There is no such thing as 1,500,394,398%.  I will never understand this.  100% is as high. as. it. goes.

7.  It had to have been a joke that they let that woman thru last week that sang the National Anthem.  I still don't get it.  Anyways.

I guess that is all I have to say about American Idol.  Frankly, it is more than I ever thought I would have to say about it ever in my whole life.  I suppose I have another week or so before I completely stop watching it.  In other news, Evans has finally gotten the hang of the German Monkey Joe's-like indoor playground.

Since Monkey Joe's in Atlanta nearly killed me a year ago I'm always hesitant to bring Evans to the German version, Rambazamba.  Especially since I am right there with him climbing up these structures lest someone get stuck up at the top (not me).  But at our birthday party on Tuesday, Evans finally grasped the concept and was happy to do everything by himself.  THANK GOD.

I can't wait to take him back next week now that I can pull up a chair and watch.  Leave the strep for the child!

Anyplace that insures a three hour afternoon nap is worth the chance!  Happy Thursday!