Crossing the Prairie

But I am outta here! I’m saying good-bye to this misspelled, second-rate blog, and moving to where all the real bloggers live, where readers can actually post comments that the blog writer can read without a secret decoder, and spontaneous editing of posts by unknown forces is not a common phenomenon.

Check out (and bookmark!) my new blog:

http://crossingtheprairie.blogspot.com

That’s practically a novel, right? So in honor of my one hundreth post, I’m doing what I’ve seen on a few other blogs - listing one hundred things about me, that you may or may not know (and almost certainly don’t really care about). I figure I’m always writing about my kids and my kitchen and our adventures, but not much about myself. So here’s my self-indulgence for the day.

1. I am more uptight than I want to be, so I do yoga to compensate.
2. I do not like pretzles. Of any kind. Even soft ones. Even in Germany, where they are really good.
3. I cannot think of another food I don’t like.
4. Except for liver. (Hey, I’ve got 100 thing to think of here.)
5. I have been to Ethiopia (twice), Mexico, Quebec, Guatemala, Costa Rica, France, Germany, and made a brief foray into Belgium by car, in which I did not stop. I have also sat on a runway in the Sudan, on our way to Ethiopia. And I am going to Spain next month.
6. I have spent the night alone in a questionable hotel in a questionable neighborhood in Paris.
7. I slept fine.
8. I really wanted a natural, water birth with Rome.
9. What I got was a premature c-section.
10. I am getting over it, but it still makes me sad.
11. I prefer red wine to white, except for a good German riesling, in the summer.
12. I drink a glass of wine almost every night.
13. But usually just one glass.
14. I am not in a hurry to potty train my toddlers - they will do it when their ready.
15. But I am going broke on diapers.
16. I like to fly - I think airplanes are fun.
17. Funny coincidence that I married a pilot, eh?
18. I have no interest in flying a plane (okay, R. - or a JET) myself.
19. My favorite things about winter are clementines and flannel sheets.
20. Other than that, I could skip that season altogether. I’m a spring and summer kind of girl.
21. I always feel a bit wistful in the fall, when the warm season is over.
22. I am an aspiring vegetarian.
23. R. is not going to like that when he gets back. I am already trying to think of compromises - most of my ideas involve a grill, which we don’t have here. Rats.
24. I have used a blow-dryer only once in almost two years. 
25. I wear a little makeup most days.
26. My husband did not realize this until I told him recently - apparently he thought this was all natural.
27. I love him a little extra for that.
28. I wish I had a lot more computer know-how, so this blog could be REALLY cool.
29. It bothers me to no end how many people have problems posting or viewing comments.
30. I am working on moving it to a new site that should be more user friendly.
31. It should be up and running very soon - aren’t you excited?
32. We only get German television at our house, which my kids don’t watch.
33. Consequently, they don’t know about Dora the Explorere, Spongebob Squarepants, or the Wiggles.
34. I feel slightly smug about that, and really happy to put it off for another year or two.
35. In high school, I did no athletics - I was too scared that I’d suck (which was a reasonable fear, to be honest).
36. I was the president of our art club my junior and senior years.
37. My favorite medium was oil painting and photography, and I won a few awards and a scholarship.
38. I have not picked up a paint brush, except to paint the walls in my house, in several years.
39. I really hope to get back to painting one of these days, when I don’t have little kids that would ruin my carpets with the paints and poison themselves with turpentine.
40. Some of my artistic urges are satisfied by my kick-ass camera, a gift from my honey two Christmases ago.
41. I LOVE MY CAMERA.
42. I got married on the banks of a river in Colorado, on my 21st birthday.
43. I got married on my birthday because I wanted to be able to drink legally at my own wedding, and because I thought twenty sounded too young to get married.
44. Little did I know how young twenty-one really is.
45. R. and I went on a honeymoon to Cozumel, Mexico - it was absolutely perfect.
46. Just a few weeks after we got back from our honeymoon, R. moved to South Dakota and I stayed in Colorado to finish my last semester of college.
47. We spent the better part of our first six months of marriage living in separate apartments.
48. The only perk to this is that we felt like honeymooners for at least a year.
49. We are lucky as military families go, because we’ve been together lots more than we’ve been apart, at least until now.
50. The next few years are not likely to be so kind to us.
51. In the last ten years, I have lived in ten houses or apartments.
52. In the next year, I will most likely add two or three more to my list.
53. That is not nearly as daunting as you might think, since I should be able to do it with my hubby.
54. I like to read cookbooks - I keep one on my nightstand for before-bed reading.
55. R. thinks I’m nuts for this, but he doesn’t understand the complexities of being an English major and a major foodie.
56. My current nightstand read is Laurel’s Kitchen - love it!!
57. I have a subscription to National Geographic and the Smithsonian.
58. I read National Geographic mostly for the pictures, and the Smithsonian to help me remember that I used to think I was smart.
59. I am a registered Independent.
60. I usually vote Democrat.
61. And I usually vote.
62. I met my husband in high school, in French class.
63. I met some of my best friends online - hi girls!!
64. I could easily live on good cheese, fresh bread, and red wine.
65. I am the oldest of three kids - I have a younger sister and a younger brother.
66. Despite all the fighting as kids, I miss them terribly. My sister is one of my best friends.
67. I lived in Cajun Country in Louisiana until I was almost 12, and almost all my family is still down there.
68. I love, love, love Cajun food.
69. I can make a decent gumbo and a mean jambalaya, but I’ll need some years on me before I can really consider myself all that great at Cajun cooking.
70. It’s growing up there, the granddaughter of a high school home-ec teacher and a university home-ec professor, that made me the food snob I am.
71. My dad is pretty amazing in the kitchen, too.
72. My mom doesn’t like to cook, but she taught me about nutrition and the virtue of fresh vegetables, because she cooked anyway, and cooked well.
73. This list sure has a lot about food on it, doesn’t it?
74. After I graduated from college, I went back to school while R. was in pilot training, and got certified to teach secondary English and French.
75. With all our moving around, I have not had a chance to have my own classroom yet.
76. I did several years of subsitute teaching, which was a blessing and a curse.
77. I learned a whole lot about teaching (and parenting), but I hated feeling like every day was my first day on the job.
78. I ended up working mostly with special education classrooms and elementary classrooms.
79. My teaching certificate has expired since Rome was born, and I’m seriously considering going back to school for elementary and/or special education.
80. I love school! Really. I love it. I graduated magna cum laude from college, because I love it.
81. I got straight A’s in college - the only reason I didn’t graduate summa cum laude was because of an A- in Modern Poetry (barf) and in Biological Anthropology (fascinating, but my weakness in geography got me there).
82. I was in college when I got my first car - a baby blue Toyota Corolla.
83. That was the best car - totally reliable. Murdered in cold blood by my brother when he was 16. Sniff….
84. I am afraid of sharks. Very afraid. Bordering on phobic afraid.
85. Lucky for me, sharks are relatively easy to avoid. Thus, I am mostly a land animal.
86. I really love living in Germany. The only downside is how far away family is, and how much it costs to see them. Oh, and jet-lag. Jet lag sucks.
87. I think I will be very sad to move back to the States this summer - I was suprised how much coming back to Germany felt like coming HOME.
88. Especially since we’ll probably be moving from lovely, lovely Germany to decidedly un-lovely Abilene, Texas.
89. I am currently on a clean-out-the-clutter tear - I just love getting rid of stuff!
90. It often hits me at the end of a deployment, and just before a move.
91. Being away for two months has made me a little ruthless about what I keep - if I didn’t miss it, I probably don’t need it!
92. I have been working on this post for over a month.
93. I am ready to be done with it - I had no idea I was this boring.
94. I had braces and allergy shots as a child, and I am desperatly hoping Rome avoids it.
95. My Ethiopian kids, especially Danny, are abnormally healthy. Seriously. It’s just not right.
96.  I have a newly discovered love of antiques, especially old quilts and crocks.
97. It is extremely difficult to shop for antiques with three small children in tow, even if you give them lollipops.
98. I have never dyed my hair.
99. I love potato chips. And cheese. It’s a curse.
100. Yay! I thought of 100 things most of my Dear Readers probably don’t know about me. [Clap, Clap, Clap! Bow, bow, leaving the stage gracefully…..]

 If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I’m glad you’re here.

Since I’m on the topic of food, this one is really fun - she only posts once a week, and the recipes (none of which I’ve actually tried, since I”m cooking for the under-six crowd) look divine. She always has very pretty pictures of food, which I appreciate. Plus, her blog has a cute name.

Click here: Orangette

 Don’t laugh! I love brussel sprouts! They are so cute, so green, so fresh looking. They have to be one of the most adorable vegetables around. The only problem is how to cook them.

This is how my dad cooks brussels sprouts. I’ve had it a half dozen times with him, and finally had him walk me through it while he was here, when we found some particularly cute brussel sprouts at the market.  Try it. You’ll like it (hey, even my kids like this).

Dad’s Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients (sorry, no measurments - that’s how we really cook around here):

butter
olive oil
white wine (dry, not too cheap)
zest of one lemon
juice of half of that lemon
a small onion, sliced as thin as possible
a couple of cloves of garlic, minced
a pound or so of nice brussel sprouts, ends trimmed and cut in half

Melt about 2-3 TBS each butter and olive oil together in the largest skillet you have, over medium high heat. When quite hot (brussel sprouts should sizzle a bit when you put them into the oil), add brussel sprouts, arranging cut side down so as many can fit as possible, and sear them. Try not to peek for a couple of minutes, so they can get nice and brown.

When the sprouts are starting to get brown, sprinkle sliced onions on top (don’t stir them up yet). Let cook for a minute or so, and then sprinkle garlic and lemon zest over the top. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the pan. If the pan starts to look a little dry, add another drizzle of olive oil during this process. You don’t want them to stick or burn. But don’t overdo it, or they’ll get greasy. It’s a fine line.

When they’re nice and brown, add about 1/4 inch of white wine to the pan, and stir gently. Simmer until the sauce is well reduced (almost gone), onions are brown, and brussel sprouts are tender to your taste (my preference is slightly softer than crisp-tender). Add more wine if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste.

These reheat nicely. Danny and I polished them off the second day with a chunk of fresh bread and some freshly pickled beets. Yum, yum, yum! Today I pickled the rest of the brussel sprouts (I accidently asked for a kilo instead of a pound -oops!) - if they turn out like I’m hoping they will, I’ll post that recipe, too!

This week, I’m thankful for my dad, who made not one, but TWO cross-atlantic flights with me and my little children, enduring jet-lag a total of FOUR times to make it happen.

 Having him here on both ends of my United States trip made the impossible possible. Thanks, Dad.

I am joining the mini-movement, started by my friend Jess, and rapidly spreading via email and blogs around the country, to celebrate a friend of ours and her truly inspiring mothering style. Wilma is Dutch, but has lived in the United States for some time. Her daughter is Kaitlyn, charmingly called Katiecakes, and she’s the same age as Rome. Wilma is one of the older moms in our little Internet circle, and Katie is her only biological child, although Wilma should also recieve credit for being an awesome step-mom to her husband’s two boys.

 Here is the post that Jess wrote about Wilma:

I was going to title this Ode to Wilma… which made me think of Ode To a Grecian Urn by John Keats… and the words Ode and Urn reminded me of dead people and Wilma is not dead!Wilma lives near Chicago, and if you look at her profile you will see that she is not Fred’s wife. Of course, thick-headed as I am, it took me a while to figure out what she was talking about! Every time Wilma talks about her daughter Kate (we lovingly call her Katicakes) she has a certain, je ne sais quoi, a glow about her… actually, every time she talks about little Kate she gushes. She just gushes. She adores her little girl; this little girl is truly the apple of her eye. You can hear the love and adoration in her voice… you can hear her sigh, as she fondly recollects this moment or that one. She savors every detail about her daughter, significant or not. It’s just so amazing to listen to. (Much in the same manor I would savor a delectable piece of really good chocolate or a really good glass of red wine!)

Don’t get me wrong. I do not mean to imply that she loves her child any more than any one of us loves our children. Nor do I mean to imply that Wilma views her daughter as perfect. She is realistic and Kate has her moments… but even in those moments that would drive a normal mother to drink, or on the brink, Wilma sits and observes and cherishes each little tantrum. Wilma is aware of just how quickly time is passing us by. She realizes that while these tantrums are infuriating and draining on both mother and child, that these too shall pass. Everything about childhood will one day be but a distant memory. Wilma is one of those people who truly takes the time to stop and smell the roses. I know that it took her a long time to conceive her child, and she had all but given up. Perhaps, I am sure, that has something to do with it. Wanting something so badly… so badly and thinking the wish will never be granted. And finally, and nothing short of miraculous, the child she yearned for so badly was conceived. (Had I waited as long as Wilma had I would be almost 50 at the time of my youngest’s birth! I have no desire to compete with Joan Lunden and all those other Guiness World Record Mother-Grandmothers!)

It is true that age mellows us… I would have been so calm had I just stuck with my one child… with each child that followed the stress factor quadrupled!

I would like to proclaim this Wilma, Not Fred’s Wife Day! I think we should all slow down and cherish all the little nuances, idiosyncrasies, and yes, even the tantrums. We should pause a moment, hold our breaths, inhale, exhale, and live in the moment. We should cherish the good as well as the bad, because as with everything childhood-related, this too shall pass…

Unfortunately I will have to honor the day tomorrow… I have already blown my stack too many times this morning… too numerous to count! I wish I was not so easily flustered these days!

It’s good to have a reminder to focus on the most important job that I do. The laundry, the housekeeping, all the endless and mind-numbing details that come with sustaining and nourising three kids on a daily basis, are all just that - DETAILS. What matters is the love I pour into them, because that is what they will carry with them into the world, and into their adult lives.

These are my Valentine’s Day flowers from R. He had them delivered to my mom’s house in Colorado, and they were so pretty. Orchids of some kind. And he chose them to be sure they would be nontoxic and also not have any thorns that might stick the kids - very thoughtful. And when I left Colorado on Feb. 26th, they were still looking pretty. Perfect!

 (And have I mentioned lately how much I love my camera - also a gift from R. - because it takes these kinds of pictures?)

And it’s good news! I called Ryan Air today (at 1.82 Euro per minute - man, those guys will nickel-and-dime you to death!!), and the kids just need a passport, and any old valid passport will do. It also means I get to put off meeting with the horrible woman at the base passport office for a few more weeks. You wouldn’t even believe somebody who gets off work at 4:30 every day and gets all federal holidays as paid vacation could be so grouchy.

 So Mallorca, here we come!!

In case you’re interested, here’s the hotel we’re staying at - The Hotel HM Tropical. Aren’t you jealous?

 Palma de Mallorca, Spain, baby!! My friends found a great deal for Spring Break week (the second week in April), cheap tickets on Ryan Air and a reasonably priced hotel across the street from the beach. I’ll be going with some of my favorite ladies in the world, and their kids. It seems like there will be enough grown-ups around to help me wrangle the wee ones. I haven’t been on a real vacation (read: not visiting family or part of a military training trip or move) since our honeymoon. Should be a blast, right? So why am I still nervous…. (other than the fact that I’m going to SPAIN with three itty-bitty kids - I’ve been to Ethiopia with them, right?)

Okay, the big ‘why’ is that the website is quite confusing about passport requirements to travel, and it wasn’t until after I booked the tickets that I became unsure about Danny and Lina being able to travel on their Ethiopian passports. They are now American citizens, but they don’t have US passports yet. They do, however, have valid Ethiopian passports and certificates of US citizenship. Ummmm…. yeah. Anyway, the call center for the airline is closed on Saturday and Sunday (of course), so I can’t be sure one way or the other until tomorrow. I’m also going to the passport office on base tomorrow, to see if I can get them an expidited US passport, which would make things way easier.  Anyway, anyway, anyway. I’m just nervously obsessing until then.

It also doesn’t help that R. is in Bagdhad for the week, away from where he is based in Iraq, and I haven’t heard from him since he was loading up the helicopter yesterday. Hate that. Hopefully I can calm my frantic self down once I hear that he’s safe and sound, wherever the heck he is.

So, am I nuts, or what?

 Edited to add: I am also a wee bit apprehensive about what it’s going to take to get my newly……ahem…. shall we say, Americanized….. figure back into beach condition. Yikes.