Random Tuesday Thoughts: Bring on the boxes

It's Tuesday.  It's Random Tuesday.  It's time for Random Tuesday Thoughts with The Un-Mom. The Queen Bee (not to be confused with the Steenky Bee), the Creator, the One and Only Keely. Be random and then link up or miss out on all the good stuff.

I can't wait to make Alton Brown's Macaroni and Cheese.  Thanks to The Blonde Duck for posting the recipe!  I'm sure my arteries will thank you as well.

I'm going to write this in different fonts.  Blogger seems to do this at random (haha) so today I feel like one upping them and doing it on purpose.

Tomorrow will bring movers and lots of boxes so this is my last shot at the good ole Mac before I box her up.  I'm glad one of my last posts here was a random one.

The other day in the height of intelligence I purchased some new music from iTunes. Once again forgetting that I was on my side of the computer instead of logged in as Hubby where we keep all the iTunes. I spent about two hours trying to figure out how to fix it and then said forget it {okay actually I said Scheiße but whatever} and just burned a cd and transferred it that way. Anyone else have that problem and know the solution? 

A blogger friend said last week that they were biting the bullet and taking their son to Disney.  I graciously offered to be their nanny.  And I wanted to extend that to all of you.  If you want to take your kids to Disney and need someone to ride the rides with them and stuff, then I'm your girl.  You don't have to pay me just buy my ticket and food and stuff.  I'll be sure to put on a very happy face for pictures at no extra charge.

I saw this and I simply could not resist. Yes, there is an Un-Mom Doll and she goes by the code name Super Keely:

Pretty good likeness huh?

Budget Budget Budget.  I need a good food budget and tips on keeping costs low.  Let me hear all your suggestions on cutting corners and saving money.  I could only dress one of the kids but that might get me some looks.

Speaking of dressing and looks (cause we were) not for the first time the neighbors two over let their son out on the slip n slide. Naked.  Birthday-suit-butt-naked.  Slip n Slide.  Naked 6-7 year old.  Can you say that's very wrong?  I can.  I'd seen him in their little pool naked last year and heard about the slip n slide from Hubby but it was my first actual time seeing naked slip n slide.  Wrong.  That's all I can say.  Simply.Wrong.

I have about 15 different types of lotion in my bathroom cabinet.  Why do I need so many when I don't even like putting it on? I have no idea.  I hope the movers will pack them though.  It may take me a few months to get back to that quantity of lotion if they don't.

Since I have to leave behind most of my books to be packed and shipped I'm going to ask: What are you reading?  I am fairly positive (about 156% certain) I will be wandering through a bookstore within days of moving so of course I'm going to have to buy a few books to keep myself occupied.  Please list any current or past good reads in the comments.

I always forget to eat breakfast.  I always remember coffee but about ten I'm saying to my stomach Oh. I never fed you.  It's practically lunch might as well eat leftover pizza/pasta/whatever.  But I still buy cereal.  Huh.

I can't wait to attack the fruit section of the grocery.  I have missed grapes and watermelon and berries and honeydew and all the rest.  You can get some of that here but it's usually only for a few weeks and then it's gone again.  I won't miss the Random Fruit Offerings.  Same with veggies.  Try finding fresh broccoli about now or cauliflower anytime.  It won't happen.

My email inbox has 3033 messages.  And that's after I deleted the 157  comment emails from the weekends comment-a-thon over at Venus vs Mars.  Between Southern Sage, Kritta, Shelle and Crash we are lucky the internet didn't crash (no pun intended).

Oh and did ya see?  Yesterday I offered everyone a coupon code for $30 off a pair of Whooga Uggs.  Go to this post for details.

Adding one more!  Hubby just sent me this.   8 year old Liam climbing over the mountain in France with Lance Armstrong.  This kid ROCKS! Click for video

Alright that's enough random for one day.  Enjoy your Random Tuesday and be sure to head over to Keely's and see what everyone is talking about!  The click is worth it.  Be on the look-out for moving day and post moving day updates via Crackberry all next week.  And oh yeah, I'm still homeless.

Whooga what?

It's finally happened.  Someone wants to pay me for my brilliant little blog.  Well, that's the way I'm telling myself it went down but that's not exactly what happened.  

You see I was contacted by Sarah from Whoogaboots and she said I could offer all of you an awesome gift card coupon for being such wonderful readers.  I love Uggs and always secretly wanted a pair.  I am so buying some (wonder if I can use my OWN coupon code??  Would that be weird??)  They ship to every country and I definitely heart that!  I love those who ship internationally.

Hmm, what color?  They come in seven different colors and six styles and I could so see me in purple, or light brown, or dark brown or really even pink...

Here's what you need to do to get your own pair.  Go to Whoogaboots 

{that's www.whoogaboots.co.uk for the link challenged} and when after you fill your cart with the good stuff use this code BLOGGINGMA to take $30 off your purchase. How awesome is that?

I don't need a house to live in when I've got these kicking boots!

Opinions Wanted: Cell Phone Providers

I need some help.  We've discovered during this repatriation thing that not everything is the way we left it three and half years ago.  For instance cell phone providers.  Cell phones (which was all we used to have, we didn't have a landline) have gone through the roof in cost.  Maybe we are just used to what the costs are here.  I cringe at the price no matter what.

Either way between phone and cable and internet - that's a big chunk of change.  We've gone since March without tv and it hasn't been that bad actually.  Maybe we'll continue with that and save the $100 a month.

Back on point:

Here we have Germany's leading provider T-Mobile (did you know it's a German company and headquartered in my little town?  Between T-Mobile pink and DHL yellow and red the town is a bit funny looking.)

But is T-Mobile good in the US?  Does it have good coverage in the Philly tri-state area?

The two main companies we are looking at are T-Mobile and Verizon.  If you have experience with either company (or another) can you offer up your opinions please?  

Just Another Friday

And into the weekend we go.  Final weekend in Germany. Finally.  Plans: Today is first day of summer vacation for Boo so of course he's got a birthday party (for which I still need to go and buy a gift).  Tomorrow we are hopefully having a sitter so Hubby and I can have dinner with the friend with whom he'll be shacking up with for the next five months*.  She's a lovely friend. Sunday we hopefully haven't had too much wine over at Roses (the best restaurant in Bonn) and we are able to drag ourselves and the kids to the Boy Scouts Crossover Ceremony BBQ thing in the afternoon.  

Oh and preparing the house for the movers on Wed/Thurs and packing up all the stuff that's going into the suitcases and doing 10,956 loads of laundry and cleaning out the cars (which is a conversation for another day.  Let's just say trying to return two cars months before the leases are up, not so much fun).  

Yep, just another typical weekend.

Ipod says: {Kinda like survey says from Family Feud.  Does anyone remember that show?}

Brown Eyed Girl - Jimmy Buffett

Typical Situation - Dave Matthews Band

Il Bacio - Anthony De Pippa (well we are going for Italian food..)

Honestly Ok - Dido

Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

Yellow - Coldplay

Dreams - The Cranberries

What's in your diary for the weekend?

*this will be a post soon, the details of why my Hubby is shacking up with another woman

And once again blogger is messing with the font so my apologies.

I'm popping back in to remind you all it's VGNO (Virtual Girls Night Out) over at Ann's place! Be sure to stop over and meet some new and old friends. It's the party place to be on Friday nights!

Mama Kat's Writers Workshop: Wanted

It's Thursday and time for Mama Kat's Writers Workshop once again.  I love Thursday's almost as much as I love Random Tuesdays.  I really like the fifth prompt today and I had a bit of fun being creative with this one.  Be sure to stop over to Mama Kat's and see who else is sharing their creativity today.

*I forgot to put up the badge yesterday so I did it today.  Yes I felt that bad about forgetting it.

5.) Create a Help Wanted Ad.
(inspired by Jenners)

Wanted: One house to rent, condition of no concern as long as walls are standing, preferably with indoor plumbing but I'm not picky, outhouses okay.  I will keep up the yard and scatter it with bikes and random large plastic toys.  I promise to keep music to a minimum so as not to annoy the neighbors so long as they provide the same courtesy.  Three bedrooms would be optimal but my kids have to get used to sharing so one or two rooms is also fine.  No garage necessary, I'm sure I can manage without.  I do prefer a driveway but again I'm not overly particular.  Kitchen is a must with sink and stove.  If fire codes allow I can do my cooking over an open flame pit in the backyard but that's going to get cold in the winter.  The house should also have heating.  It doesn't have to work overly well as I'm always cold so I won't be able to tell the difference either way.  But my kids do prefer heat on occasion.  

If you've got a house that sounds like the one above be sure to email me at livinginadreamworld@insanity.com

Head over to Mama Kat's and see who else is playing along today! {And if you've got a house like the one above you let me know okay?}

I woke up and it went to hell

Last night in a misguided euphoric state I celebrated that we'd finally signed a lease on a house in Pennsylvania.  It felt good to know some of the worries (okay most of them) had disappeared in that moment.

And then I woke up.

Overnight this is what happened:

It seems while WE signed the lease the people with the house to lease decided at the last second not to sign it.  They in fact decided not to move at all.

I don't think there are two more unlucky people than me and Hubby when it comes to this. Karmic retribution?  I made someone in the real estate lottery angry?  I don't know.  But this being what my sixth or seventh attempt to secure a specific residence I am starting to think there are forces working against me.

It's not that we would be entirely homeless.  My mother in law has offered (and we will be staying there for a short time) her house to us while we find a place.  But this adds other concerns.  

*I'll have a rental car for one month (as allowed by our relocation package) but I'll need to buy something pretty much as soon as Hubby arrives on the 13th.  He's only staying two weeks. Once I buy a car I have to register it.  My MIL lives in NJ we want to live in PA.  I don't want to register a car (and pay the sales tax) in the wrong state.  Since I need a PA license to register a car in PA and they say I need a utility bill and a copy of a lease to get one... You can see where this is getting complicated.  Hubby will also have to sign for the car seeing as he's the one bringing home the bacon.

*I need to register Boo for school.  Any school.  Preferably the one he would actually end up going to.

*I need to find a speech therapist for Chick and a pediatrician for them both.

So we start all over, once again and broaden our search and at this point I don't care what the place looks like, how many rooms it has or if it makes me Happy Go Lucky.  I just want a place to live.  

If you've got a three bedroom anything I can rent you let me know.

8 days and counting down....

Random Tuesday Thoughts: I'm going to live in a box

It's time for Random Tuesday Thoughts with Keely at The Un-Mom.  If you're not in on the party you are simply missing out.  Write your random and link up!

Several of you in the last few weeks started playing along with RTT and mentioned I'd converted you to the ways of Random.  Hehe, cool.  Keely is of course the inventor of the Random madness but if I get on her good side before the zombie's take over even better.

Yeah you go ahead and tell her NO.  See how far you get.

Last Thursday night Chick slept all the way from 9 pm till 4:30 am.  So naturally I couldn't fall asleep until 3:30 am.

I'm checking out all the music suggestions from last weeks post.  Thank you to all who left me some of their favorites.

even blurred he's cute

just random pictures

Between the Air France plane disappearance/crash and the pilot of the flight from Brussels to Newark that died while flying over the ocean I am not so sure getting on a plane next week is a good idea.

I'm grateful I don't actually have to pack anything since the company hired movers for us but it leaves me at loose ends. It's hard to think next week we are moving and not a single thing is in a box. I feel like I want to pack something but I know they will just unpack it and repack it their way if I do.

There are three magazines that have been sitting on my desk for the last month I haven't even bothered to open yet. Maybe next month.

Once again Boo's school mystifies me. The last day of school is Thursday (half day) but tomorrow they are going to the outdoor market to learn about where food comes from for their Unit of Inquiry. Does that seem weird to anyone but me to have a field trip the day before the last day of school?? Public school next year is going to be so awesome.

I've decided that as soon as I leave the airport next week I'm stopping at a Wawa. I'm buying a Dr Pepper. I may even take out cash from the closest drive up atm. JUST BECAUSE I CAN.

If we manage to find a house in the area we like there is a BJ's, Target, Starbucks, Kohls and a mall within ten minutes. Hubby has already promised to take away all my atm/credit cards beforehand. He's just no fun at all.

My favorite color is yellow (in case you wanted know).

Which is harder buying a house or renting one? I've done the first three times over and let me say it's the second that's going to kill me. At this point a nice large cardboard box will do just fine, after all it is summer.

Six weeks before we moved to Germany - January 2006:

Six weeks before we go back to America -May 2009:

What is UP with blogger's font today? All of my sentences are different sizes. WTF blogger? (again for clarification that's 'where's the fire?')

What about you? What's Random in your mind today? Head over to Keely's after you leave me a comment and see who else is feeling the Random love today.

Berlin Weekend

buildings around Potsdamer Platz

It was a great weekend in Berlin.  The weather was actually quite warm and other than a few scattered showers it was sunny all weekend (or as sunny as Germany is anyway).  We were in town for the cycling race - Berlin Velothon.  It started at 8 am on Sunday and the kids and I staked out a good spot to watch Hubby.  He was up in the first block of racers.  We stayed at the Marriot at Potsdamer Platz and the location was beyond perfect.  The walk to the train and Ubahn is minutes away along with the race passing right by the backside of the hotel.  There was also a Vapiano's restaurant (with lots of outdoor seating) on the corner and a Starbucks and a Haagen Dazs right on the same block.  Kind of all of my favorite things in one place.  :)

on the train

Chick being, well, Chick

Hotel

view of the lobby from the 8th floor

Of course we also did some sightseeing before the big race. We went over to the last standing section of the Berlin Wall that I had not seen before having only seen the smaller sections in Potsdamer Platz that had been removed from the original site. Behind the wall they are in the process of building a tourist center but you can walk along and read all about the Wall on large boards.

Checkpoint Charlie was underwhelming as the actual checkpoint is a little hut in the middle of the road. But the museum is incredible. With the kids we did not tour it because of the graphic nature of the photos but during our last visit to Berlin Hubby and my dad went through it. Hubby took us over to the checkpoint though because I had not been there.

The actual original sign at Checkpoint Charlie

My camera battery then chose to give out so the rest of the pictures are not quite as good as they were taken with another camera. The rest of the pictures are from the race itself as they wound through the city during the 60 km race. Hubby officially finished 6th in his class and 18th overall.

Berlin is always such a wonderful place to visit and given the choice of moving home or moving to Berlin I do have to say it would be a tough call. I like the flavor of the city and the friendliness of the people. I suppose because they get so many tourists (I heard so much english this weekend!) it seemed less German to me and more multicultural.

Where would you go if you had a weekend to do something fun? Where have you always wanted to go?

I'm also yakking over at Venus vs Mars today so please stop by.

Oh and yeah, can I win the crappy daughter award? Yesterday was Father's Day. I forgot to call my dad. To be fair though, they do not celebrate Father's Day here in Germany. Well, they celebrate it in May but it's more a 'dads get drunk day' than anything else. So dad if you should ever find yourself at my blog, Happy Father's Day.

My Hubby

The guesstimate for Hubby's finish in the Berlin Velothon? Top 20 of over 13,000 competitiors.

Um yeah, he rocks!
------------------

My First TGIF!

Today I am participating in a new event TGIF's.  Kim has taken a great concept and made into a weekly event.  I hope you'll stop by her site and have a look!

From Zook Book Nook  

Purpose: Every Friday we'll allow ourselves the freedom to imagine the "What ifs..." that try to rule our world during the week that is full of highs and lows as parents, writers, workers, children, siblings, spouses, and individuals.

How it Works: Below is a set of "What If" statements. Choose one or more of them to answer on your blog Friday. Then leave your blog URL in Mister Linky on my blog on Friday, so everyone can link to your blog and read what you wrote!

Thank Goodness IFs:
(1) If I could have been a fly on a wall this week...I would have loved to hear my son telling his assistant teacher he was NOT being rude.  Incidentally today when he and his dad go talk to Mr C he's wearing a shirt that says "You Talking To Me?"  Maybe I'd rather be a fly on that wall instead...

(2) If I had to revisit my least favorite childhood place...Dr Morgan's dentist office.  There was a person whom I severely disliked.

(3) If I was asked to nominate a blogger for an award, the award would be for...(I can't think of an answer for this one).

(4) If I could travel anywhere in the world to get one item...it would be to Tokyo for some gyoza appetizers.

(5) If I could interview one famous person...Chevy Chase because he is so funny and I grew up watching his movies.

Head over to Zook Book Nook and add your TGIF's!  I'm off to Berlin look for lots of pictures on Monday.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Writer's Workshop with Mama Kat: Books

It's time for Writers Workshop with Mama Kat at Mama Kat's Losin' It!

The prompt I chose today:

1.) Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page and share two “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
(inspired by Heather)

I'm always in the middle of reading several books at once.  Currently I have three with active bookmarks.  I chose the one on the top of the pile on my desk.  Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier  I've been reading this for awhile now since it's one of those books where you have to concentrate to find the hidden message and yadda yadda.  That means I only pick it up when I am in the mood and have adequate time to read it (both have been scarce as of late).  Here are two lines from page 80 (paperback version).  It is part of a journal written by an Amadeu de Prado and is being read by the main character Raimund Gregorius who has been so captured by Prado's words he's left behind his life in Germany to go to Lisbon to uncover the meaning behind the authors journal.

"And I had tried to drive away something else in the lighted streets: the memory of my rage at my clumsy words announcing the bitter message that had later been turned against Adriana only because she, who takes care of me better than a mother, had forgotten to bring my favorite bread.  If only the white gold light of the morning would extinguish this injustice that wasn't untypical for me!"

There is a line further onto the next page that I love:

"How does this figure fit into the framework of the pleasure and displeasure and into the remaining architecture of his soul?"

"architecture of his soul"  I really like that line.  It sounds like a good way to describe a person's soul as it's built with different turns and twists and supports, always changing and being built.

And another favorite line:

"Names are the invisible shadows with which others clothe us and we them." page 161

I really like that line as well.  Just take some time to think on it and I'd love to hear any interpretations you come up with!

To see who else is Prompting Up today visit Mama Kat for additional Writers Workshop answers.

Mmm Music

I should be doing a lot of other stuff (like being at my kids sports day event, figures the one day it's nice out had to be today and I am in no mind to go watch little kids run around like maniacs with sticks) but I'm here reading blogs, catching up on comments and searching for music.  I love music, I don't know how I ever survived without my iPod.  Four years ago I told my Hubby no way do I want one of those things.  Naturally he's smarter than me and didn't listen and bought me one anyway.

Love that man.

Love my iPod too.  I listen in the house, in the car, at bedtime.  Music is the background to pretty much my entire day.  I read while listening to music, do dishes while listening to music, write while listening to music.  You get the idea.  I'm curious what you are listening to because I am always searching for new music.  Since I won't have my desktop for about 6 weeks (that has my entire iTunes library) I want to find some new music in the next few weeks to tide me over until our household stuff comes.

So what are you listening to I ask?

I like pretty much anything except rap, heavy metal and twangy country (okay so most country I could really do without).  It's been three and a half years since I've heard anything on the radio other than very bad 80's music (which is so popular here) so any new stuff I have barely scratched the surface of finding other than stalking blogs that play music.

What's your favorite group?  Best album overall?  I want your suggestions please!

Random Tuesday Thoughts: The New Black

It's time for Random Tuesday Thoughts with Keely at The Un-Mom.  Write out your random thoughts and link up.  Random; it's the new black.

Did you know Mary Poppins is a freakishly long movie?  It's over two hours long and was made in what the 1960's or something?  We've watched it about thirty times in the last few weeks. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious you know?  {Blogger didn't even count that as misspelled... that's freaky.}

Chick has decided that anytime before 11 pm is not an appropriate time to go to bed and will proceed to scream her lungs out until you let her out of her room.  Hence why we've watched a lot of Mary Poppins lately.

Boo has a week and half of school left.  Then he's officially a second grader.  How did he get to be so old?

We have two weekends left before moving.  This weekend we are in Berlin for the Velothon and I am actually looking forward to the five hour train ride on Friday.  It beats driving with the kids anyway.  Now if the weather could be nice that would be spectacular!

I finally settled on what car to buy, now I just have to actually find it.  It seems I can't escape the Germans.  They do make nice cars though. {I want the new Wolfsburg Edition with that really nice engine.  Of course Hubby had to point out that I've gotten the most tickets since we've been here 4 to his 3.  It's not my fault it's Lucy's.  I can't help it if she likes to take the corners fast!  I used to have a Jetta in my college days.  Lovely cars.}

I wish the house thing would be as easy.  We've found several and are always a second too late and miss out.  Or like the last one they posted pictures of the way it looked... four years ago and want $7,000 as a deposit.  Yeah, sure.  I'm fairly certain I've got that in change in the couch cushions. 

Even though I said I'd give up getting a new Blackberry and just get regular phone service Hubby is getting me the Blackberry anyway.  Yea!  I am SO addicted to Crackberry. I need a 12 step program.

Proof: They like each other.

Here's one of the things I don't understand when a sports team wins a title.  LAPD Sends Home Rowdy Lakers Crowd.  Exactly what about winning a sports event screams "Let's damage cars and start fires!!"  Maybe it's because I just don't like competitive sports...

I've been reading and rereading the Twlight series (I seem stuck for some reason, maybe cause they are easy reads? I don't know) but how on earth did these books get published?  Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the story, that is great but the books are so full of mistakes. Grammatical, tenses not matching in the same sentence, double words and additional words that simply didn't get edited out.  I would think the publisher would be a bit embarrassed by that considering their popularity when a sometimes freelance editor like me finds numerous mistakes in every book.  Did anyone even edit the thing?  Little, Brown & Company isn't exactly a chump change publisher either.  They are A list.

I'm wondering, have you heard of Feedmill?  

I'm rounding out this edition of RTT with an iPod playlist.  Oh yeah, it's random.

1. Have I told you lately - Van Morrison

2. Loving you - Minnie Riperton

3. Listen up - Brandon Heath

4. Sunrise - Norah Jones

5. Paint and Pillows - Julie Roberts

6. Trouble is - Jars of Clay

7. Proof - Coldplay

8. Flight of the passing fancy - Squirrel Nut Zippers

9. Sonata 1 in G Minor - Bach

10. Bring on the day - Charlotte Martin

Happy Random Tuesday Thoughts.  Head over to Keely's and check up on the Random.  We aim to please.