Birthday Party!

At the very end of July, we attended a birthday party here at Olympia.  The birthday girl, who turned three, is pictured above with one of the fabulous party favors received by all of the guests under four feet tall.

Miss Thing was a complete mess that entire day due to the non-sleep chronicles going on at our house.  We were a bit late to the party because we let her sleep longer than usual for her nap.  When we arrived, everyone was busy finishing their meal.  The kids' table was full of Hello Kitty dinner-ware.

Luckily for her, hot dogs were on the menu.  She may have been a tad hungry since she scarfed down two of them right away.  Also, note the hat.  They don't usually stay on her head for that long, so the hunger most definitely overcame the uncomfortable-ness.

It was a really lovely afternoon; we didn't have many of them in July, so it was nice for the adults to be able to sit and talk outside while the kids played everywhere.

This photo is funny on so many levels.  The kids are playing Pin the bow on the Kitty and it was interesting.  Take note of the concentration on the Mom assisting the little boy.  In the background the birthday girl is obviously unsure about the blind-folding process.  If only you could see the line of children behind them all waiting for their turn.  It was excellent.

Later the kids got to hit the pinata.  Most were gentle with it, but there were definitely a few who knew what they were doing.  Regardless we had to enlist a parent to finally break the thing open.  Miss Thing had no idea what we were doing, but she "hit" the pinanta about as forcefully as a fly and then when it finally broke open I think she collected about five pieces of candy.

The kids went into the house to watch a movie while the adults hung out in the yard.  After a while I went inside to check on them and was met with the view above.  I love how they all have balloons and they're all gaping at the television.  I think there's a reason they call it the boob-tube...because watching it turns you into one after awhile.

This is quite possibly my favorite photo of the day. Miss Thing finally ate her first piece of hard candy. It was "Mmmm, yummy." Not so yummy was the way she kept taking it out of her mouth to look at it.

Sticky.

Best Playoff-Watching

We had some friends over tonight to watch the playoff games. I think we were all into the games somewhat, but I at least was into having them over to socialize. "They" are Mister B, Minna, Miss A and CT. CT is Perpetual Motion's age, which makes things interesting.

Whenever the two of them get together, which is at least once a week to play, things go like this: Perpetual Motion asks all day for CT. I tell her he is at school or napping or whatever. Once he is home, she begs to go see him. We go outside and they see one another through the driveway gate. CT yells for us and waves, etc. Perpetual Motion gets all excited and can barely contain herself as we cross the street.

They then spend their entire time together acting like cavemen: grunting and taking and yelling and fussing at one another or us over every item/animal in sight.

It is quite the time.

Tonight, things began in a similar fashion. Eventually though, they were sharing and playing together. They played cars together, worked puzzles together, and played in the kitchen together:

 

They even played the piano together.

Oh, yes.

THAT one was too cute.

See?

We had a spread of food: veggie tray, hummus and crackers, chips and excellent pico, potato casserole, yummy beans, brisket and ribs from Goode's and chess squares for dessert.

We are now all waddling.

The price you pay....

OH. And I made sangria.

Mmmmm.....

Mister B was very popular this evening. At one point he was the lucky holder of a frog (Rrrrriiiiibbbbbiiiitttt!), a dragon (Roar!), Cooper (the real dog), and Dog-Dog.

Pop. U. Lar.

Miss Perpetual Motion decided he was good for a laugh and proceeded to chuck Dog-Dog at him and giggle and carry on. She was so tired that she had to go in shifts, as seen here:

Too much fun, indeed.

Eventually everyone helped clean up the toys (THANKS!!!!) and CT and Miss A went home to bed while we got Perpetual Motion ready over here. Amazingly, she went down with nary a peep.

All I can say is good times!

Best Friendship Development

A friend of ours recently had a baby.  She is tiny and smooshy and adorable like babies tend to be.  She arrived into a family with two older brothers who are very excited to finally see her.

The middle child, E, used to have some reservations about Perpetual Motion.  You see, E had all sorts of fabulous toys, and whenever he would bring them to a community event, PM would want to play with them.  And by play, I mean look at, touch, hold, carry around, and any other version you can possibly think of.

Due to this very predictable event, E started leaving things at home.  He would even tell his Mom that he left them at home.  You know, so that they were safe and whatnot.

Recently, his Mom convinced him that it was okay to bring his things, but that if he brought them, he had to share.  This meant that he would show up at, say, the playground, and immediately let PM see the item.  Just to get it over and done with.

Yesterday we went to the playground where we met the baby for the first time.  The kids were all playing on their own for a while and then, oh then, E started playing with Perpetual Motion.  Like, to the extent that she was even a little put-off by it.  Mostly because he rrreeeaaaallllyyy wanted to play with her and help her, etc.  At one point he was pushing her in the swing and she was so not sure about THAT.

He was having a GREAT time, though.

The best part of yesterday was that E brought a little Woody doll (you know, Toy Story?) along to the playground and not only did he show it to Miss Thing, but he let her hold the doll and keep the doll until it was time to leave.

I'd say he is going to be a super big brother.

New Park!

One of our friends had a birthday party at a park that was new to us. The park itself is excellent. There are plenty of tables and benches for eating, all of which are under a sun shade. There are also many swing sets, some of which are also under sun shades. Papa Jim spent over half of our time at the park pushing Perpetual Motion in the swing.

Can you tell that she enjoyed herself?


There were two large play structures, one for smaller children and one for larger. Of course, Miss Thang saw all of her friends on the larger of the two and decided that she should be over there as well. The slides were a big hit.


After some playing, we all sat down and had snacks and cupcakes. We sang Happy Birthday and then dove right in. Perpetual Motion managed to pick up the cupcake at one point, rip off the top, get the icing all over her hands and then (of course) wipe them off.

Oh, yes. She wiped them onto her shirt. Chocolate. On white. It was awesome.

Tomorrow I'll show you Texas's version of the Washington Monument.

A Look Back, Take One

Way back in June, we had a birthday party for Perpetual Motion. We decorated the dining area a bit and purchased some balloons and bubbles to give to those who attended.


Miss Thing was completely unaware of what was going on. She was a tad concerned that all of the people she usually saw at the playground were suddenly in her house, but no worries - they all began playing soon enough!


She received some rather nice gifts, including a Dr. Seuss book. She still won't really let me read it the whole way through as she is far too busy to sit for that, but she really enjoys the crazy cow that came with it. She can tell you that the cow goes "mooo"...and if you ask her what she says, well, "mooo" again.


All of her gifts are being put to good use and have been since her birthday, but this magnetic farm animal toy has just taken on a new meaning. The farm has two slots on it where you place the front end and back end of animals. You can make a match or not, and each has a song to go with it. Recently, we discovered that the front of our dishwasher is magnetic, even though it is stainless steel, so she races from the side of the fridge to the front of the dishwasher moving the animal halves back and forth.

Good times.

Also? Keeps her busy while I take care of things...for about a minute.

Kids: They certainly teach you how to make the most of very short periods of time.


I have a couple of other photos of Perpetual Motion opening her gifts, but in most of them she is fascinated by the paper. Oh, yes. The best gift of all...


...in fact, once she realized that the paper was off of a couple of gifts, that was all she wanted to play with, so I was going to open the gifts for her. Fortunately, one of her friends noticed her absence and immediately took advantage of the fact that it appeared as if whoever was sitting with me got to open presents. Too funny.


We had enough gifts that each of the kids who cared enough about it was able to open one. Good times ensued as everyone was then able to play with whatever we had received! The youngest kids played with paper and the older ones managed to break in the toys the right way.

We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and then we had cake! Perpetual Motion had no clue what we were doing in the above photo.


She had experienced solid foods a bit, but nothing like this cake. We poked it, we grabbed it, we licked our fingers...


She soon discovered that the icing was indeed her favorite part and managed to get most of it off of the cake.


Very soon thereafter she was showing her exhaustion and the thumb took up residence in her mouth. Off to bed she went...after a good bath of course.


The following morning the leftover balloons were fading and she managed to get this one and play with it. Oh, how exciting and fun that was! She still loves balloons and points them out when we ride in the car or if we see them in a book.


Overall it was a very nice weekend and a good first birthday!

An Update

Why this photo:?


Because it is awesome, duh.

We've been traveling basically since the Thursday before Labor Day. Perpetual Motion and I have been on eight flights in a month. Thankfully, she only had one illness as a result. Granted, it consisted of fever and stinky diarrhea of the leaky diaper variety, but it only lasted a couple of days and since then she's been healthy (knock on wood). I, on the other hand, have had a cold that turned into a strange cough that has lasted over two weeks. I finally went to the doctor's office yesterday and now have some antibiotics. Hopefully they will do the job 'cause if not, then I don't even want to think about what in the world we will have to do to figure out what is going on.

So.

The above photo is from a playground in Virginia near Papa Jim's and Guga's house. You are looking at a plastic tunnel with a crazy child in it. Look, here's a hole. Let me put my face against it and chomp it!

Why not, right?


Miss Thing is slowly but surely turning into a child (as opposed to a baby). I think she would look even less like a baby if the hair would grow a little more. It is finally growing, however, so that is good.

She is way into wearing things these days. Mainly necklaces, bracelets, shoes, and hats. Anything can be a bracelet. One of her favorites is empty toilet paper rolls. Oh, yes, the height of fashion.

She knows that shoes go on her feet, but not quite how to accomplish it just yet, so that is a tad bit frustrating.

Also? Please. She says it. Repeatedly. Without fail if she needs/wants something. We are working on adding the thing she needs/wants to the request. Just for sanity's sake.


Rocket Man and I were lucky enough to be able to go to Brian's and Rebecca's (of Uri! Zone fame) wedding the first weekend of October. The ceremony was at a vineyard and outside and it was beautiful.

There was good food, great wine, and lots of internet people I "know" but I don't really know. Strangest part of being there. I can only imagine what a bloggers conference must be like.

I especially enjoyed the first dance of the couple and also our final seat for dinner. Originally, we were at the right table but at the wrong time, so we moved to allow the families to all sit together. This gave us a slightly elevated view of the place and room to be silly, as documented above. That photo? It is totally for Rocket Man's siblings, M and R-Shelly.

Briecca had frisbees ('cause who doesn't like frisbees?) made with their photo and wedding info on it as gifts for everyone who attended. They really are pretty cool and Perpetual Motion already enjoys using her feet to slide it all over the place. Obviously we need to work on her frisbee skillz.

As a tribute to Rebecca, and therefore Brian since hello, he loves her, I posed with the awesome gift and made a face. I can't tell you how many photos I've seen of Rebecca, and even of Brian, where they are posing crazy-like with funny faces. I thought it fitting.


They are an awesome couple who deserve every happiness and we were honored to have been invited.

Of course, right now they are in Hawaii and are posting photos to show us "how awesome it is where [we] aren't"...and that's kinda a slap in the face...but since Brian ended up with strep throat (How's that for an awesome wedding gift?) for the first week of his honeymoon, I guess I'll still wish them all the best.


The day after the wedding, Rocket Man and I traveled to a conference for his work. The above photo was taken in the city where the conference was held. Anyone know where that is? Perpetual Motion stayed behind with her Grammie and Pop-Pop and had so much fun she could hardly stand it.

I am thinking that holds true for the three of them.

We're home and I am working on some posts for November. Yeah, yeah. Hold the complaints. November is the goal, so deal with it.

If I have time, I'll try to post again this month.

I'm out.

This post is for Kathy S.

DUDE!

Have you seen this?!?


~photo from bakersedge.com~

As soon as I came across it, I thought of you!!

Imagine how your life in Spain would have been different with this lovely pan...no more mushy middles, no more crispy sides - just perfectly baked all around brownies!

Perhaps you should put the Baker's Edge Brownie Pan on your list for Christmas...you know, to make up for all of the Spanish stuff SlyKat stole took home with her...

Here are the details.

Update

Lots to tell, not enough time to tell it all...

First things first - that power cord problem? Oh, yeah - it still exists. I am sure that Karen knows how I feel, since she lost her modem for a while. Yes, I purchased a "compatible" AC Power adapter from PC City here in Spain. And while it was excellent at allowing my computer to run on AC power, it failed miserably in the act of recharging my computer's battery. Back to the store it went.

Remember that dinner get-together we were supposed to attend? Well, that was a no-go...for us at least. I am sure all of you who live here and read this are wondering why I went on and on about those brownies and then didn't deliver. Señor CC had to work. All. Night. Again. So the brownies were tossed into the trash where they spent some quality time with my social life.

I am almost done with Barcelona posts. There are so many of them, I know, but we really loved visiting the city, so I've got to write about it. After that is Ireland and then, of course, I now have photos, etc. from Milan, Italy. We spent most of last week there. Señor CC had to go for meetings and he took me along. There were a couple of other wives there, so I made up an itinerary and we had fun together. I think if I can manage to post about those two cities I will be caught up on the travels...except for Austria of course...

Things I did yesterday:
Laundry
Emails
Cleaned apartment
Grocery shopping
Topped up the gas tank
Picked up Doggy from kennel
Washed said Doggy - boy was he STINKY!
Booked hotel for Paris (more difficult than it sounds...there are sooooo many hotels)
Called credit company (it was blocking my hotel booking, silly goose)
Planned dinner (but then didn't cook it because Señor CC didn't leave office until about 9pm)
Picked up Señor CC from work

It was a busy day. Today? I am hoping to finish up Barcelona and get started on the photos from Ireland. Then...I might scrapbook...or maybe I'll play some Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (yes, M&M, I started over last night and beat the CRABS in no time). Also, I shall run at some point. The weather, it is cool and cloudy today, and that should make for some great running.

HEY! If any of you actually read to the end of this...assuming anyone even reads this thing at all, I want to know what you want to read about. Granted, I will be writing about places I have visited...but what other stuff do you want to read about? I feel like I don't write about anything else, so ideas/desires would be greatly appreciated. Leave your contributions in the comments!! Thanks.

Hasta pronto,
~ CC

Exhaustion and Editing Don't Mix

I am tired.

Why?

That is an easy one. I was lucky enough to be able to stay awake and see 3:43 on the clock this morning. I have no idea when exactly I finally fell asleep, I only know that it was after that time. Lucky. Me.

I am sure you are wondering why I was up so late. Was it because Señor CC decided that my head was a fabulously comfy spot on which to place his pillow for sleeping? Nope, not this time. Was it because Cooper decided to growl and huff (and puff and blow your house down) at the imaginary dangers that only come out at night? Nah - not last night. Well then, what was it?

Who. Knows.

I stopped drinking coffee a few months ago - about six or so - and although I have the occasional soda (usually none, and never more than one a day) or something containing chocolate, I never have problems falling asleep. Methinks the tiramisu I ate last night for dessert contained a bit o' caffeine. Either that, or my sleep schedule was just a bit hinky last night.

Where is this post going?

Umm...new subject:

We are invited to a casual dinner get-together this evening. I am hoping that everyone on the email invite will be able to make it. I have met most of them at least once, some of whom I know are great people with whom I do not want to lose touch after this project sails to Italy. Yes, it will. A concrete box, sailing to Italy. Good times.

Back to the dinner party.

All we were asked to bring is ourselves and whatever we want to drink, as usual. I wanted to bring something else, so I made...

Wait for it...

BROWNIES!!!!

I know. You are ever so impressed, since I never bake. Sure, I've made things to take to school for activities and I've baked at Christmas and for other gatherings, but for myself? For Señor CC? Never. Okay - I made pumpkin pie at Thankgiving. It was yummy. But you've gotta make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, so that one doesn't count.

I love desserts. That is one reason I don't bake. Another is the fact that Señor CC doesn't eat them. Nope, he is healthy and makes good food choices and that means that if I bake, I am left to eat the whole thing. Back to reason number one: I love desserts...and therefore I would eat it...all of it. So I don't bake.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about all of this is that when I tell people that I don't bake (and explain why, etc) they immediately assume that it must be because I don't know how to...and then they inevitably proceed with their detailed explanations on how to do this or that...as if telling me how will change my ways and I will suddenly start baking. Why is this interesting? Because I never say that I don't know how. I simply say that I don't bake. Their jump to the conclusion that I must not know how is amazingly swift and almost everyone does it. Hence: interesting. Done and done.

Proof that I have (successfully) made brownies:

ACK!!!!! MUTANT BROWNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so here's where I attempt to tie the themes of this post together:

In my tired state, I accidentally hit ctrl+i instead of ctrl+alt+i when it was time to resize my brownie photo in photoshop elements. The result is the fantastic photo you see above. I would be very interested to see who (or what) would eat brownies that looked like that. I suppose this is where I see the silver lining in regards to the 3:43 clock sighting. If not for that, we would not all be privy to the alien brownies.

I plan to take these brownies to our friendly get-together tonight. I hope that they will be eaten, since I don't want to take them all home with me. I suppose everyone who attends will have to be the judges of whether or not I do know how to bake - I'll let you know how that goes.

For now, here is a more realistic depiction of said brownies:

Mmmmmmm....

Hasta pronto,
~ CC

Flowers for BC:

Where, Oh Where?

Let's see...where have I been?

Nowhere, really. Here, but not blogging.

A monthly wrap-up for your perusal:

We attended a show at the bullring that included a fabulous piano player, singers, band (complete with Kenny G-esque sax player), flamenco dancers and dancing andalucian horses.

I then spent my time finalizing our plans for a visit to Dublin, Ireland and environs. We were there from the tenth until the fourteenth. Mostly it went off without a hitch.

I've been to castellano classes once a week.

The car is in the shop and every time we call we are told "I think it will be finished the car at the end of this week or the beginning of next week." That is what we get for having a car in the shop in Spain in August...when everyone is on vacation.

On the twenty-fourth we attended a team-building (excuse for a party - ha!) extravaganza at a chiringuito here in Sotogrande. What is that, you ask? Why, a chiringuito is a beach bar that serves tasty treats in addition to copious amounts of alcohol. Karen has a post that deftly describes the evening complete with a photograph. Yes, we did eat the fish cooking on stakes on the sand-filled boat fire.

Cooper has had some interesting developments this month as well. For starters, he has a new bed. It is big and floppy and he appears to like it (now that he has accepted that it is the norm). Secondly, the vet who owns the kennel where he stays when we leave town declared him "un perrito bueno" and told me that he is so good with other dogs now. Any of you who know Cooper at all...or have heard our doggy meets doggy tales...know that this is an improvement indeed. We were going to have a doggy play-date with two seventy-pound-plus golden retrievers this past weekend, but it fell through. Good times are guaranteed when that occurs - we'll try to videotape it. Lastly, today he was groomed and although he still was so excited to arrive there that he was a bit loud, today was the first time that when I arrived to pick him up he was calm and collected...and of course he did not want to leave. Go figure.

So. There you have my month more or less. Yes, I did participate in 12 of 12. I have not posted it yet for whatever reason. It will come soon enough, along with more info on most of what I have written about here. All will have photographs, of course. I can't seem to do much posting without the photographs. They are my favorite part.

Hasta pronto,
~ CC

June 12 of 12

It has been a while since my last post. I can't say that I have been particularly busy since May 12th, but for one reason or another, I just cannot seem to get it together to post anything. It is not a lack of information or ideas, but a lack of motivation. I am awaiting its return so that I can do a decent job of this blogging thing. Until then, I provide the latest 12 of 12. To see the rules as well as what other people all over the world are doing today, check out Chad's blog.

9:40; Sotogrande, Spain

First thing after dropping Señor CC at work this morning I donned these lovely items and went for a run. Today I did the Paseo del Parque circuit; I am guessing that my legs shall be tired tomorrow because of the hills.

9:45; Sotogrande, Spain

Chompy-lones and I were attempting to play with shoe last night when the unthinkable occurred. Yes, the poor thing is ripped in two. I am not sure which end Cooper prefers as I did not throw it afterward. I searched high and low and finally beneath a chair to find shoe-two. Luckily he is only a doggy - as long as there is a shoe to play with all is well in his world.

12:04; Sotogrande, Spain

I spent some time going through my scrapbook items. I chose to begin with "Christmas 2005" since that is fairly thematic and will provide me with lots of pages (we did go see everyone that year). I have cut all of the photos and arranged them into appropriate pages. There will be 19 in all. Yes, nineteen...

12:05; Sotogrande, Spain

What does a lones do while one is working on photographs and ribbons? Why, he rests, of course! He has been making a trek to his night-time bed for naps during the day lately. I believe it has something to do with the neighbor-dog who cries all day long. No exaggeration.

12:49; Sotogrande, Spain

Once I felt crafty with the scrapbook items I decided to take it another step and try out my new long knitting needles (THANKS, MOM!). They are nice indeed; smooth enough to slip in the loops easily, but not so slippery that stitches attempt to make their escape. I knit, then took it apart, then knit once again, then took it apart, and finally knit to leave it in and make something...I hope.

13:40; Sotogrande, Spain

In the midst of the knitting and taking apart-ness that was my afternoon, I may have spent some time online looking at some options for a European vacation of sorts. Yes, it is a package tour. Yes, I live here and totally should just be planning it myself - I agree with you on that point. However. Oh yes, there is one of those! I would be going on this trip by myself. I would rather go with someone, and the best way is to go with a group and let someone else take care of the planning for once. I want to see eastern or central Europe...the brochures are in the mail!

17:56; Sotogrande, Spain

Okey dokey. So now I am obviously back to the knitting - towards the end of it all, actually. I simply cannot knit, cross-stitch, etc. without something else going on. Well, that isn't totally true. I can on occasion, but usually I like to have something in the background. What is better than some Scrubs? "Oh, and by the way - Bob...who doesn't get that?"

18:36; Sotogrande, Spain

I am on my way to pick up Señor CC so that we can meet his friend and visit the bike shops in La Línea. I was asked to be there by 19:00; he wasn't ready until about 20:00. Good times.

19:10; La Línea, Spain

After a quick call to Señor CC to let him know I had arrived...and an equally quick realization that it would be a while, I decided to take advantage of the extra time and take some photos. Today was a lovely day and fairly clear; we could see Africa quite well. I attempted to capture the view of the continent but was not particularly successful because I did not have my zoom lens with me. I was fortunate enough to catch these two surfing in the beautiful blue-green waters of the bay this afternoon.

19:13; La Línea, Spain

Round-abouts are hit-or-miss in Spain. Sometimes they have been decorated and sometimes they have not. Luckily for me, on the road that hugs the bay they are done up quite well. One of my favorites has this shiny sailboat in it.

19:59; La Línea, Spain

We finally made it over to the parking garage, complete with little red and green lights that indicate whether or not a space is free. Our friends were there to greet us and show us to the bike shops. We did a bit of looking, I managed to confuse the poor guy who worked there by mutilating some español, and then we scheduled a visit for Thursday.

20:02; La Línea, Spain

Every town or city I have visited in Spain seems to be full of lovely secrets such as this one. Usually I am walking through the streets where all appears to be like any (albeit old) city when I stumble upon a plaza or park. It makes exploring the best approach to any location, and the result has always been delightful.

22:10; La Línea, Spain

We dined at Moltobella restaurant, a member of the Grupo Patagonia. The food and company was fabulous. The translation on the English-language menu left a little to be desired in the accuracy area but more than made up for it in sheer entertainment. Savage Mushrooms were on the menu as were Turkey Buckets. I had the buckets and I must say that I certainly didn't taste anything fowl; rather, it was quite delicious and I highly recommend it.