The fun thing about having girls is doing fun stuff with their hair. The scary part is when they're old enough to do fun stuff to your hair.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Twitches II
Here's a picture of the beloved kitty. In Emma's words, "This is our cat, but it doesn't live in our house, but we get to play with it on our balcony." So we "kind of" have a cat. The girls stuff it in their jackets and bring it up to the apartment. It mostly stays on the balcony with an occasional visit to the kitchen. The picture below was taken the day we discovered her. Annie sat in this position for over 2 hours letting the kitty sleep on her. It's amazing that her legs still function properly.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Twitches
Yesterday when we went to the van, an itty bitty black kitty ran out from under it as we approached. This is the smallest kitten we've seen here, so of course we had to follow it and try to hold it. The sweet little thing let us hold it, but since we were in a hurry we were not able to play with it long. When we got home, Annie begged to find and play with the kitten.
She easily found the kitten and played with it for four hours. For most of the time, Annie just sat there and let the kitten sleep on her. I was surprised at how content Annie was to sit for hours just holding this kitten. At one point I was concerned for the circulation to her legs becasue she was sitting in a kneeling position for a very long time, but Annie didn't want to move because she didn't want to disturb the kitten. When the kitten was awake, another stray cat hissed at it (either jealousy or to show who's boss). Annie got the big cat to scat. She played with the kitten's ears, and they twitched when she touched them, so she named the kitten Twitches. The girls made 2 runs to the kitchen to give the kitty warm milk. Also, there were some boys walking by who made fun of the kitten. Most nationals view strays as a nuisance, so they are treated unkindly. When Annie finally came in, she asked if the kitten could spend the night in our house, and I had to tell her no (Mike has horrible allergies). But I assured her she could play with the kitten whenever she saw it outside.
This morning we headed out fairly early, and the kitten let us play with it again. We could not stay and play, but I told the girls they could play with the kitten for most of the afternoon. So all morning while we were out they were dreaming of playing with this kitten.
Today is a cold and rainy fall day. It's a horrible day to play outside on the street. Since I promised the girls they could play with the kitten, I told them they could bring the kitten to our balcony and play if they promised to keep the kitten on our balcony. They enthusiastically promised. While I prepared lunch they got the balcony ready. They made a box with a bath towel in it for a place to rest. They prepared a milk bowl and a food bowl. They ate their lunch as fast as they could and headed on the quest for Twitches.
The girls went down in the cold, drizzly rain to find Twitches. They saw the kitten, and it ran under a car. As they approached the car, the kitten climbed to a place they couldn't reach. They tried to coerce the kitten, but to no avail. After 10 minutes I had them come inside because the rain was coming down harder. Since that time, they have made 4 trips to the street in search of the kitten. Each time they return downcast because they can't find Twitches.
If Twitches knew what awaited her on our balcony, I'm confident she'd seek out the girls. But for now the girls seek her out. The girls have prepared a place with hopes that they'll get to bring her up to our balcony one day. They have love and concern for the kitten, but because of how the kitten's been treated by other humans, she has an unhealthy fear of the girls. Our girls long to feed the kitten, and we bought the finest kitten food on the market waiting for her. Tonight I suppose she'll dine on the scraps in the garbage because it's all she knows.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of applications you can make with this story of the stray kitten. Hopefully we will win the trust of Twitches so we can love and care for her in some small way.
She easily found the kitten and played with it for four hours. For most of the time, Annie just sat there and let the kitten sleep on her. I was surprised at how content Annie was to sit for hours just holding this kitten. At one point I was concerned for the circulation to her legs becasue she was sitting in a kneeling position for a very long time, but Annie didn't want to move because she didn't want to disturb the kitten. When the kitten was awake, another stray cat hissed at it (either jealousy or to show who's boss). Annie got the big cat to scat. She played with the kitten's ears, and they twitched when she touched them, so she named the kitten Twitches. The girls made 2 runs to the kitchen to give the kitty warm milk. Also, there were some boys walking by who made fun of the kitten. Most nationals view strays as a nuisance, so they are treated unkindly. When Annie finally came in, she asked if the kitten could spend the night in our house, and I had to tell her no (Mike has horrible allergies). But I assured her she could play with the kitten whenever she saw it outside.
This morning we headed out fairly early, and the kitten let us play with it again. We could not stay and play, but I told the girls they could play with the kitten for most of the afternoon. So all morning while we were out they were dreaming of playing with this kitten.
Today is a cold and rainy fall day. It's a horrible day to play outside on the street. Since I promised the girls they could play with the kitten, I told them they could bring the kitten to our balcony and play if they promised to keep the kitten on our balcony. They enthusiastically promised. While I prepared lunch they got the balcony ready. They made a box with a bath towel in it for a place to rest. They prepared a milk bowl and a food bowl. They ate their lunch as fast as they could and headed on the quest for Twitches.
The girls went down in the cold, drizzly rain to find Twitches. They saw the kitten, and it ran under a car. As they approached the car, the kitten climbed to a place they couldn't reach. They tried to coerce the kitten, but to no avail. After 10 minutes I had them come inside because the rain was coming down harder. Since that time, they have made 4 trips to the street in search of the kitten. Each time they return downcast because they can't find Twitches.
If Twitches knew what awaited her on our balcony, I'm confident she'd seek out the girls. But for now the girls seek her out. The girls have prepared a place with hopes that they'll get to bring her up to our balcony one day. They have love and concern for the kitten, but because of how the kitten's been treated by other humans, she has an unhealthy fear of the girls. Our girls long to feed the kitten, and we bought the finest kitten food on the market waiting for her. Tonight I suppose she'll dine on the scraps in the garbage because it's all she knows.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of applications you can make with this story of the stray kitten. Hopefully we will win the trust of Twitches so we can love and care for her in some small way.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Splish Splash!!!!
After finishing language school yesterday afternoon, I needed to walk to an office to pick up some papers. After almost an hour of asking people where this office was, I finally realized I needed to cross the street and catch the bus to another neighborhood. (Cultural Lesson of the Day: everyone WILL give you directions even if they have no earthly idea where you are going. This is part of the local charm and hospitality!)
As I attempted to cross, I waited on the lines in the middle of the street. While waiting for traffic to clear, 3 cars passed by and promptly drenched me from the stomach down!! I felt like I was in the middle of a cartoon or a movie scene. (Can anyone remember any good movie scenes?? Help me out if you do!) It was actually funny to me, though a little cold as it was windy and rainy. After crossing, I noticed people crossing to the other side where I had just come from...and they were getting splashed on the back side!! As they say, don't feel too bad because someone else always has it worse than you. BTW - I did find the office and get the papers I needed, so it was worth every last drop of water I brought home with me.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Toaster Pastry recipe
Due to popular demand, I am now posting the recipe for the toaster pastries. It takes about 2 hours to make, so know it's a fairly lengthy process. However, kids really enjoy helping. They're not as good as the original Kellogg's, but it's the next best thing when you live overseas!
TOASTER PASTRIES
Pastry:
8 T. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1 lg. egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar (optional)(I didn’t put this in ‘cause I don’t have it, and it was fine)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ c. milk
Fruit Filling:
1 ¼ c. jam
¼ c. flour
Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Filling:
6 T. soft butter
3 T. flour
¾ c. light brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
Frosting:
2 ½ T. water or milk
1 ¼ c. powdered sugar
Colored sprinkles for decoration
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and vanilla and beat well.
Blend flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Alternately add flour mixture and the milk to butter mixture, beating the dough until it’s well blended. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours, or overnight. (Mine chilled for 10 min…didn’t have time)
Before removing from refrigerator, prepare fillings. Mix jam and flour together. Mix all brown sugar ingredients until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Divide dough into quarters. Roll out each piece separately on lightly floured work surface. 12-8 inch rectangle, 1/16 inch thick. Cut into 8 3x4 inch pieces.
Place on lightly greased baking sheet. With a pastry brush or your finger, lightly moisten the outside edge of each rectangle. Spread slightly more than 1 T. of filling onto each rectangle, leaving about a 1/8 inch border all the way around.
Place tops of top of bottoms. Seal each tart with fork dipped into flour. Prick top of each tart 10-12 times with toothpick.
Bake 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown. Transfer to rack to cool
Frost and sprinkle.
Best eaten within a day or two of when they’re made.
Enjoy!
TOASTER PASTRIES
Pastry:
8 T. unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1 lg. egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar (optional)(I didn’t put this in ‘cause I don’t have it, and it was fine)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ c. milk
Fruit Filling:
1 ¼ c. jam
¼ c. flour
Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Filling:
6 T. soft butter
3 T. flour
¾ c. light brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
Frosting:
2 ½ T. water or milk
1 ¼ c. powdered sugar
Colored sprinkles for decoration
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and vanilla and beat well.
Blend flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Alternately add flour mixture and the milk to butter mixture, beating the dough until it’s well blended. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for several hours, or overnight. (Mine chilled for 10 min…didn’t have time)
Before removing from refrigerator, prepare fillings. Mix jam and flour together. Mix all brown sugar ingredients until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Divide dough into quarters. Roll out each piece separately on lightly floured work surface. 12-8 inch rectangle, 1/16 inch thick. Cut into 8 3x4 inch pieces.
Place on lightly greased baking sheet. With a pastry brush or your finger, lightly moisten the outside edge of each rectangle. Spread slightly more than 1 T. of filling onto each rectangle, leaving about a 1/8 inch border all the way around.
Place tops of top of bottoms. Seal each tart with fork dipped into flour. Prick top of each tart 10-12 times with toothpick.
Bake 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown. Transfer to rack to cool
Frost and sprinkle.
Best eaten within a day or two of when they’re made.
Enjoy!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The BAN Has Been Lifted!
Yes, the time has come to lift the BAN! I am still in shock that I called for a ban to begin with, but we were overrun with generous family and friends sending Twizzlers. But, NO MORE!! The candy has been ocnsumed by happy mouths from all over the country. Thus, the time has come to restart the distribution to the greatest candy ever created. Remember, Twizzlers makes mouths happy! My happy mouth thanks you in advance!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Annie's bob
Here's Annie with one of her bestest buddies from school. From the picture on the left, I'm sure you can see why they get along so well. Annie has been asking for a week to get her hair cut just like her friend's hair. Today was the day, and Annie once again has bangs. They now have identical haircuts. She's got the pixie (or bob) goin' on.
Somerset All Star
Check out Abby in the 80's retro shirt! It's an infamous Somerset softball all-stars shirt I wore in the 5th grade. I found it at my mom's house years ago and took it. Little did I know it would be one of Abby's favorite shirts to wear because of how retro it is. Wait til she sees my legwarmers, banana clip, stirrups, and jelly shoes. I'll tease her hair really good, and she'll be stylin'.
Fish heads
The other day I was at an open-air market with a national friend. She told me she wanted fish for dinner, so we headed towards a fish section. At the fish markets, you see all the fish sitting on ice and you pick your fish. I told my friend that we Americans are kind of weird, and we like our fish cleaned, without bones and just the meat. She told me that the fish market would clean my fish for free. We haven't had fish in over 6 months, so this sounded great to me. I picked out the same fish my friend picked out, and we went to the back to get them cleaned. While in the back, Emma stood there holding her nose the entire time. Their version of cleaning was to slit the belly and empty the guts. Done. I still got the head and tail. On the way home, I again told my friend how weird we Americans are. We don't like to eat food that can look at us. She said it is a very respectful thing to serve guests fish with the head still attached. After I got home I chopped off the head and tail. I wasn't serving it to any guests. Some of my American friends here are too grossed out to buy fish; I guess growing up on Lake Cumberland is paying off. However, I have no idea what fish I bought, though I'm pretty positive it's a saltwater fish. If it's not on a Red Lobster menu or out of a Kentucky lake, I'm clueless on fish. So, for those fishermen out there, take a look at these fish. What did I buy?
great birthday gift
David recently went to a birthday party for another American boy. It was a baseball party, and all the boys enjoyed playing baseball in a place that is foreign to this all-American pastime. When it came to the gift opening, the birthday boy received 3 12-packs of Dr. Pepper. It was from a family that has privileges on the American military base. All the American boys (and parents) were ooh-ing and aah-ing over the Dr. Pepper. David took note of who gave the gift and told me he wanted to invite that kid to his party.
Toaster Pastries
We haven't had pop tarts in 6 months. Of course, brown sugar poptarts rule, but cherry with sprinkles are my preference if I'm in a fruitty mood. 
A friend gave me a recipe for homemade toaster pastries, and they actually turned out pretty good. It took about 2 hours to make, from start to finish, but it was a nice treat! We made some brown sugar cinnamon and cherry ones. I never realized how much I relied on the convenience breakfast foods until I moved here. We ate pop tarts, breakfast cereal bars, fruit bites, toaster strudels, cinnamon rolls in a can, bagels, granola bars, etc. Of course they were all fortified with 12 vitamins and minerals.
A friend gave me a recipe for homemade toaster pastries, and they actually turned out pretty good. It took about 2 hours to make, from start to finish, but it was a nice treat! We made some brown sugar cinnamon and cherry ones. I never realized how much I relied on the convenience breakfast foods until I moved here. We ate pop tarts, breakfast cereal bars, fruit bites, toaster strudels, cinnamon rolls in a can, bagels, granola bars, etc. Of course they were all fortified with 12 vitamins and minerals.
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