The "sick meal"

I am feeling under the weather. Not deathly ill or anything - my stomach is off a bit and if my children would not finger paint the house, I could easily spend the day in bed. When I'm sick, I want my childhood "sick meal" - you know, what your mother made when you were a kid and sick. In our house, this meal consisted of Campbell's chicken noddle soup and half a peanut butter sandwich. The soup has to be the actual thin, stringy noddle kind - no "O's", cartoon characters, or low sodium. And the sandwich has to be on soft white bread, not toasted and just peanut butter - preferably the creamy kind. You sip the broth with the peanut butter. According to my husband, this is gross, but I'm telling you, this meal and an afternoon watch mindless television on the couch with a satin edge blanket and you're cured. I may be pushing forty, but when I'm sick, this is what I want.

So what's your "sick meal"?

Last Day of Freedom

Today is the last full day of school here. Other than a two hour goodbye session tomorrow morning, the kids will now be home full time. I assume that means the question of what I do with my time will be put to rest for a time. It also means that my secret job of employment finder will now have to be accomplished during nap time and at night. Also, I lose my noon time yoga class.

The requests for summer activities continues to grow. Right now, we have swim lessons twice a week. The list of future activities includes making jello wigglers, going to the beach, visit the library, go fishing, assembling jewelry, going to Maine to visit Grammie, Grampa, the Great Grandparents, and some fun days with cousins, swim at Aunt Mary's camp, and eat lobster.

As there is nothing on the job/moving front, we decided that since I have not been to Maine for a year, I am going to take the kids up there for a month. Florida is miserably hot in the summer and I may become certifiably insane if forced inside with two hyperactive kids for two and half months. In Maine, they can be outside and everyone will feel a bit better. PH will join us for two weeks during which he and I will take a trip to Quebec sans children (Thank you Grammie and Grampa!). We had thought we would be headed to Austria this summer, but with the current economy and our visit to Belgium, I nixed the trip knowing our pennies would stretch a bit further closer to home.

While I am very happy to have a month at home in Maine, I can't help but wish we had a new job and a move to plan. While we continue to send resumes overseas, we have realized that this may not happen for a very long time, and have had some serious conversations about how much we want to leave Florida. Along with the job search overseas, we have begun a search in Maine. It has the advantages of my family, a better education system, four defined seasons (well, there's not much spring I will admit, but autumn is spectacular), and it's right next to Canada so international visits are a car drive away. Yet, in doing this I feel a bit like we are giving up on a life overseas. A good friend reminded me that even in sending resumes to Maine, we could just as likely receive a positive response in Norway before receiving one from Maine. I guess for now it is up to Fate and man, do I hate letting someone else have the controls.

200 Posts and two years

It appears that yesterday was post number 200. I didn't even notice. It also appears that this week was my two year blogiversary. So here's to two years of blogging in Florida. When I started this adventure, Hew was in diapers and slept in a crib, KK was in preschool, I was preparing for a job change, and we were still in the discussion stage of leaving this state. As I blow out the candles on the cake, I think my wish is pretty well known. Let's just hope that this next year's blog posts reflects more action and less discussion.

And to celebrate, here's a day at Efteling in The Netherlands . . .

Welcome to the park

While KK and Hew enjoyed the rides

My favorite was the animated village

Even the garbage can talked!


There were homes.

Music!

A Windmill, of course!

School!

And my favorite, the bakery!

Speechless Yet Again

I have in the past discussed (complained) about living in Florida. There are certain aspects that of this state that astound me - there was that whole "chad" voting thing, hurricanes, the high crime, the education system, possum tacos, snakes , and the fact that every year some kid gets eaten by an alligator. I understand I am biased as the hot weather makes me cranky and therefore I often proclaim that there is nothing of value in this state (except sweet tea - which can be found in various othere states so that alone is no reason to keep Florida from sinking into the Atlantic). Today, I was once again reminded that no matter how jaded I am, this state will still render me speechless.

Below is a portion of the advisory from the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission warning the public about their consumption of pig frog legs. That's right - PIG FROG LEG CONSUMPTION.

CONSUMPTION ADVISORY FOR PIG FROG LEGS FOR EVERGLADES AND FRANCIS S.
TAYLOR WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA (WATER CONSERVATION AREAS 2 AND 3) IN PALM BEACH, BROWARD AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTIES

(****I provided the link to the breaking news section of a local paper because I wouldn't believe this either.)

> TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Department of Health (DOH) and the Florida
> Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) jointly issued a
> consumption advisory today for pig frog legs taken from any part of
> the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. This
> advisory covers all of Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) 2 and 3 due to
> elevated levels of mercury found in these frogs.
>
> This advisory provides information on quantities and time intervals
> for pig frog consumption. DOH recommends that women of childbearing
> age and young children eat no more than two 8-ounce (raw weight) meals
> of frog-leg meat per week from WCA 2A and WCA 2B and no more than one
> 8-ounce meal of frog-leg meat per month from WCA 3A North and WCA 3A
> South. DOH also recommends that women of childbearing age and young
> children eat no more than one 8-ounce meal of frog-leg meat per week
> from WCA 3B.

Need I say anything else . . .

Still Here

I haven't disappeared. I just can't seem to connect the dots between my brain and the keyboard. And don't even ask about my emotions as the heat, the economy, the poor people of Myanmar, and the job search have the potential to send me over the edge. In case you wonder what I do with all my time (which seems to be the question to ask stay at home mothers and is rude - when I worked, no one asked me to account for my usefulness), here's the weekly run down. Forgive me, I'll try to get it together soon.

• Job search on computer for numerous, mind-numbing hours
• Draft curriculum vitae for review by "boss with perks"
• Search refrigerator for something that will resemble a dinner
• Water new tomato, pepper and cantaloupe plants in hope that the sun from hell will not kill them
• Attend various functions at school - this week the Spring Concert and the Mother's Day Picnic
• Listen to Hew's newest rendition on the harmonica - thank you Auntie H, I will seek full revenge on the next birthday of your kid
• Listen to KK sing the 50 states song repeatedly - can now list the 50 states
• Count down the number of days left at school - only 13
• Continue pursuit to find bottom of the laundry basket - still no success
• Review "work" with "boss with perks" once kids have gone to sleep. Must ask for raise.
• Scourge brain for something exciting to write about on neglected blog and instead post photos in place of real writing.