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June 29, 2003
I keep forgetting to pass on my contact information:
home: 011-39-095-86-0154
cell: 011-347-746-8757
work: 011-39-095-56-4769
navynursedeb@yahoo.com
Address:
LT D. Codding
PSC 836 Box 0263
FPO AE 09636-0263
Posted by DebC at 11:05 AM
June 27, 2003
Did I mention I changed my vacation plans?
I start leave on Monday night (after work) and we fly out at 6am on Tuesday morning for Rota, Spain. I have reserved a <a href="http://www.hotelplayadelaluz.com/english/index.htm">hotel room on the beach</a> there. We will just hang out at the beach for the first few days but then <a href="http://www.sol.com/cadiz/index.htm">I want to do some exploring</a>. Apparently the hotel has lots of activities that we can sign up for so we will take advantage of as much as possible. I am not sure that I know anyone stationed at the Naval Hospital there in Rota, so we probably won't be doing anything on base. I am very excited!
Posted by DebC at 07:10 PM | Comments (2)
It was hot enough to fry an egg
This was the temperature today at one pm. It was actually hotter than that because the probe hangs down into some bushes in front of our house so it is protected from the sun.
Hey, I wonder.........
Oh yes we did.
Go ahead, get it out of your system...we know we are freaks.
We checked on it an hour later but it had simply dried up instead of cooked. Oh well, it had gotten cloudy so maybe we will try it again on another day. It cracked us up. It all started by me telling Jake that "it is hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk!". He said "okay, let's try it". But there was a nice breeze (similar to that of an oven being opened).
Posted by DebC at 06:14 PM | Comments (1)
June 15, 2003
Happy Birthday To Me (a day late like everything else I do!)
(lots of pictures below - be sure to click on the purple words)
I have had the busiest past two weeks! Averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night is just not good. I actually remembered to buy stuff to make my birthday cake this year but it is still sitting on the counter (all the parts I need are in my cake server). I have turned on the oven two times on two different days now but turned it back off because I realized each time I didn't have enough time to complete the operation. So today, I will make myself a lemon cake with lemon icing. YUM! My mom started a tradition of allowing each kid to choose the icing and cake type and I have continued that in my house. When I was a little girl, I used to choose the weird ones like rainbow swirl cake with vanilla icing that had candy mixed in it (gag).
My birthday kicked off with my nanny (Eleonore) showing up with a HUGE bouquet of flowers to me. We had a gift for her and both of us were surprised to get a present. <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/caltigironeanselele.jpg">She and her honey (Ansel)</a> took us to Caltigirone as promised and we all had a great time. We spent most of our time at <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/caltigironemarket.jpg">the market</a> which was PACKED with people. I realized that I am starting to understand quite a bit of Italian now (just can't speak it hahahaha). I gave each of the boys ten euro to spend and they were on the hunt for bargains. Eli bought: a pepsi (in a odd, really tall can), a squirtgun, a pound of peanuts, a six pack of bitters (like ginger beer) and a Dragon Ball Z whistle made of clay. Jake bought: a plastic guitar, a bey blade, and a Dragon Ball Z whistle made of clay. Seth bought a kid-size push broom, a new hat and some sandals. I did well too. I got <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/blueyarn.jpg">two hanks of the prettiest cotton yarn</a> (probably <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/blueyarnclose.jpg">DK weight</a>) and two skeins of a black DK acrylic (I have no idea what I will do with either but I couldn't pass them up). I also bought a quart of strawberries, a bag of bing cherries and an economy bottle of Mr. Clean. It was baking hot so we sat down and had granites (pronounced gr-ah-nee-tas), which are the same as in the States - finely choped ice with blended up fruit. As we were leaving the market, we found a vendor selling <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/sethducks.jpg">ducklings</a> and chickens. <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/sethducks3.jpg">Seth lost his tiny mind.</a> The owners were cracking up at his reaction. It was a combination squeal/shriek/laugh/growl/happy dance.
After the market, <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/caltigironeele.jpg">Eleonore</a> took us to see the famous <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/caltigironesteps.jpg">steps of Caltigirone</a>. I was exhausted looking at them. The <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/caltigironesteps2.jpg">front of each of the 142 steps</a> has a different ceramic tile design. The <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/caltigironepottery.jpg">pottery</a> there is overwhelmingly beautiful (and expensive!). It was like going to a restaurant with 100 things on the menu when you are starving. I am looking for the pattern that I will stick with for dishes and so didn't buy anything. We also went to a museum that was once the jail. It was chock full of paintings and statues from around a few hundred A.D. on, all done by local artists.
Jake, Seth and I went grocery shopping (hey, even birthday girls gotta eat!). I had not even begun to prepare my dress uniform that I needed to put on in two hours. Fortunately Seth was exhausted and went down for a nap within minutes. I have never worn this particular uniform and quickly decided that it was not my favorite. It is called <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/messdress.jpg">Tropical Mess Dress</a>. The dining out was interesting but drug out way too long. There are very strict rules about addressing the master of ceremonies (called madam vice). It actually got quite spirited in a fun way with various people reporting to madam vice infractions of others. The biggest infractions involved uniform violations. One guy had only one sock on and was reported for it. He stood up and challenged by saying that the regulations state that the uniform includes a pair of black socks but no where does it state that they must be worn on each foot. He then demonstrated that he had two black socks on one foot. That was fairly representative of the comedy of the evening. At the beginning of the dinner there was a ceremony to make the "grog" that would be used as punishment. They very elaborately made up this solution that appeared chunky and stringy. Traditionally it was alcoholic but now there are two choices one with alcohol and one without. If you are fined for an infraction, you have to either pay a fine or drink the grog. I carefully avoided any infractions! I was extremely grateful to have the evening finish though. Those things always seem fun for the first hour or two but then (it seems like a rule) drag on unmercifully. At ten pm we still had not heard the guest speaker!
Oh and I forgot - I finished another <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/blueandgreensweater.jpg">sweater</a> two days ago. I am actually getting quite fast, especially considering that my ripping out is at a minimum now. The next two sweaters will be a summer one for me and a baby sweater for a friend (I will use the <a href="http://debcodding.com/sweater.JPG">same pattern</a> as the one I made for Seth as a newborn). Seth has been wearing his <a href="http://www.debcodding.com/stripesweater.JPG">latest sweater</a> in the morning when it is chilly and overcast and he loves it.
Posted by DebC at 09:28 AM | Comments (5)
June 11, 2003
In the next room, right now
Eli is reading Jake a Roald Dahl book (BFG). Eli had come proudly to me to tell me he had read the first chapter by himself. As we were discussing what was happening in the story, Jake asked Eli to please, please, please read it to him. Eli took on a solemn, big brotherly look and said, "Okay come on". I can't believe I now have a child old enough to not only read (he is eight), but to read out loud to his little brother!
I took Jake in on Tuesday to have his arm xrayed. I don't know what I expected - they totally minimized the fracture and so I just assumed it wasn't any big deal. When I saw the xrays yesterday, I was horrified. HIS ARM IS BROKEN! The crack runs 3/4 of the way through the neck of the radius (right under the wrist). It was very obviously not healed. They had taken the cast off in order to xray it and Jake was so happy. The doctor told us that "if he is very careful with it for the next two weeks, we can leave it off". He said that it should be left in place for 6 weeks. This not at all what we were told in the emergency room! I told him that there was no possible way Jake could be careful for two weeks and that it would just end up broken again and casted for an additional six weeks. We are talking about the boy who does spontaneous handstands in a room full of people with zero notice. This is the boy that rode his bike into a parked car because he shut his eyes while doing a "trick".
When I said the cast had to go back on, Jake said "I hate you mom". Ughh. It is fun being so popular these days. The orthopedic doctor that consulted with our family physician explained to Jake that it was not my fault but actually his fault (the ortho doc) because he was worried about Jake hurting his arm. The ortho technician who had been listening to all of this (and who had put on the splint and the cast before) told us that if we wait a few minutes, she had a surprise for us.
She put a <a href="http://www.orthopedictechreview.com/issues/mayjun02/pg38.htm">WATERPROOF CAST</a> on Jake's arm. Woohoo!!!! You should have seen the incredulous look Jake gave her. While we were waiting, she put us in a room full of anatomical skeleton models. It was like going to a science museum. We had a blast. I am sure we were interesting to listen to - Jake asked me if I knew that the boy's penis doesn't have any real bones in it. So then we discussed the difference between boy hips and girl hips (guessing whether the skeleton model was a girl or a boy - we guessed boy due to narrow hips) and the difference between a penis and a clitoris. Ya gotta love the children of labor and delivery nurses!
Busy weekend planned.
Eleonora is going to take us to <a href="http://www.studiosoft.it/CeramicsCaltagirone.htm">Caltigirone</a> on Saturday. This is a town about thirty minutes Southwest of where I live. It is world famous for <a href="http://www.lilibeo.com/ilmulino/indeng.html">pottery</a>. I told her that I loved the idea - I can go shopping for my birthday! She laughed and said her birthday is on Sunday. HAHAHAHAHAA I am exactly ten years and one day older than she is. Saturday night I have to go to a very formal military dinner called a <a href="http://home.hawaii.rr.com/kingcharles/Humor/DiningIn.htm">Dining Out</a>. I have a fancy uniform with even fancier medals to wear. I will post a picture. There are very strict etiquette rules that result in a monetary fine and public humiliation if you break - all in good fun of course. I am actually looking forward to it.
Posted by DebC at 09:10 PM
June 08, 2003
Oh and one more thing
If you get notified of updates to my blog (which stands for web log by the way) and you don't want to - PLEASE send me an email, I promise I won't be offended.
The flip side of that is if you know of other family or friends who would like to see what we are up to, please feel free to pass on the web site address.
Posted by DebC at 07:38 AM | Comments (1)
Global Journaling
<a href="http://1000journals.com/526/index_1.htm">A fantastically interesting (warning - will suck MAJOR time) website.</a> This guy sent out 1000 blank journals with instructions for people to write in them and to take them somewhere else.
<a href="http://1000journals.com/526/index.htm">This is the first journal that he sent out</a> (of 1000) that made it back to him. He has scanned the pages of what people wrote/drew. Fascinating.
There is a new game that is similar to the above called <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/">Geocaching</a>. Looks like a lot of fun. I actually discovered that there are cache sites right here in Sicily! I learned of this from a book a friend forwarded to me called <a href="http://www.ritagoldengelman.com/">Adventures Of A Modern Female Nomad</a>. I would love to take off and do what this author has done after my children leave home! In the meantime, we will have to save our pennies (like 30,000 of them!) to buy a GPS gizmo to play the game. I think it would be a great education tool for the boys and a lot of fun too.
If you are clicking on the link to this webpage from within the email that gets sent, you are not seeing the whole webpage. I have links to family photos on the main page. Either go to www.debcodding.com/blog or just click on "main" at the top of the page. I will be putting new pictures up soon, I promise.
And Grandma - congratulations on finally being "allowed" by your computer to make a comment!!! Yeah! I am truly hoping to change this website layout to make it pretty (it is ugly now, I know) and make it compatible with many other computers. It doesn't like Netscape very much right now.
Posted by DebC at 07:32 AM | Comments (1)
June 05, 2003
Well, I don't really have anything to say
So I will just babble.
Eleonora (It is pronounced Elenore and I WILL get the spelling right eventually) is terrific. She was so worried that Seth wouldn't like her that it made her seem very quiet and serious. She came over last Saturday with her boyfriend and spent an hour with us just chatting. Her boyfriend's name is Ansel and he works for the Navy grocery store actually and so speaks very nice English. Seth fell in love. By the end of the hour, Seth leaned over and gave Eleonora a kiss. The look on her face was priceless. She was so excited.
She worked Tuesday and Wednesday and seemed like a different person when I came home. Now she is happy and chatty. The boys really like her. I hope this will be a longterm relationship.
We discovered, on our nightly walk, that the neighborhood outdoor roller hockey rink makes a faboo playpen. We can let Jax run free. We also discovered that Jax could probably get hired as a dog soccer player. He actually runs the ball (very quickly) with his nose and shoulder. He feints and dodges (and sometimes cheats by nipping at our shoes). The other thing that has happened is that *I* am being forced to play baseball. That's right boys and girls. The girl who was picked last or not at all has to now step up to the plate and teach Jake how to pitch and catch. We have not broken out the bat yet but now have gloves for each of us. We invented a game tonite that hopefully will teach Jake how to stop ground balls. One boy stands at each end of the hockey rink and throws the ball as hard as possible. The other boy has to stop it before it hits the wall or a point is scored. A good time was had by all.
Let's see, what else? Jake should get his cast off next week. I have to make an appointment to get it re-xrayed. School is out next week as well. Vacation plans are being procrastinated on but I am trying to decide between Spain and Crete. Both places are easy to get in and out of by military (read: nearly free) flight and both have awesome beaches.
Some Time Sucks for you:
<a href="http://www.chunkideas.com/popups/sps_popup.htm">rock paper scissors</a>
<a href="http://www.protozoo.com/mutant/">try on different faces ala Mr. Potato Head</a>
Posted by DebC at 08:33 PM | Comments (2)