Vierundzwanzig

The big news of the day: WE GOT OUR APPROVAL BACK FROM HOUSING!! I am so, so, so, SO very excited!! Were it not for the suddenly bum knee, I would likely be executing clumsy cartwheels around the teeny tiny hotel room. If everything else in the process goes as scheduled (BIG IF), we should be in our new house on Monday!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything else I was going to say seems all small and unimportant now. But, that's never stopped me from blurting it out anyway.

We had to make a trip to the farther away post today because - apparently - making a routine eye appointment is a many step process that, several steps in, requires you to make an appearance in the healthcare administration office. Every time you make any kind of routine appointment off post. Which you have to do for anything related to eyes, teeth and who knows what else. I'm excited about this.

Cheeseball and I decided to pick El Niño up from school instead of riding the bus, so we had a few hours to kill until school got out. We wandered through the thrift shop and found what must be the most awesome book ever written.





I'm glad I actually had my camera with me today (!!) because, really, who would believe me without photographic evidence? I know I wouldn't. I also bought a book called A Killer Stitch. It advertises itself as a knitting mystery. No, really. It promises a delicious recipe and knitting pattern included! with the book. The back cover teaser begins:

'Tis the season for knitters in chilly Fort Connor, Colorado: scarves, sweaters, mittens - and murder.

Ha ha ha, how do you NOT buy that book!? I don't know, I bought it. I'm not sure I'll actually be able to read it. I can barely slog through the back cover, which continues:

The House of Lambspun has been bombarded by holiday knitters. In the midst of overflowing bins of sumptuous yarn, an unexpected winter romance buzzes in chorus with the spindles of shy new spinning instructor Lacy Adair. But when a rancher is found dead in Bellevue Canyon, avid knitter and sometime-sleuth Kelly Flynn quickly puts festive pastimes aside.

Hmm. Awful, but I have to check it out. It's like when someone says, "oh god this tastes horrible, try it!" And then somehow you have to. Or I do. I have to know how bad it is! Same principle applies.

In other news, we are still adjusting to life in a foreign country. The kids asked me this morning what "juice" means.

I said, do you mean "how do you say juice in German? You say saft."

They said, "no, what does juice mean?"

"Well, I guess it means pulverized fruit mixed with water and often sugar."

"No, not that kind of juice."

"I don't really know any other kind of juice. Unless you mean power. Like, you could say 'give it some juice' when you mean, step on the gas."

At this point, El Niño was getting a little frustrated.
"Why does everybody say 'juice' when they're done talking to you!?"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ha ha ha. No, they're saying 'cheers'! Just, with an accent."

"Oh, ok. What does cheers mean?"

Parenting. You have to be a fan of the circular. And also a fan of the element of surprise. Every time I've gone to upload the few pictures I've taken lately, I'm surprised to see my camera uploading 60+ pictures. Cheeseball has become a fan of the camera. All of her pictures fall into three categories; 1. pictures of her dog, 2. pictures of her toys, 3. pictures of her making funny faces. And most of them are either extreme close ups or extremely brief movies. I've tried to teach her the settings, but I think that's beyond a four year old and she always ends up on the movie setting.

Some come out suprisingly well shot.

Others are adorable, but somewhat lacking in composition.



I think I'll have to work with her to develop the interest and then maybe I'll feel less guilty about all the pictures I don't end up taking.

Technorati tags: photography, Germany, books