Year: 2014

Turnips.

Look at this beautiful photo of turnips my friend Lauren took at the farmer’s market yesterday. Turnips are so pretty…

Our household computer system is a little broken. Everything works – kind of. Jeremy’s starting to be a little obsessed with trying to fix it. He’s up past his bedtime trying to figure out the configuration of the wireless network. I’m listening to a lot of talk about routers. This past weekend I also took a look at the kitchen sink and a bunch of the piping is corroded because I let the leak go on a little too long, so I might have to replace the whole faucet. I didn’t take it apart because once I start, there is really no way to stop because we can’t really have the kitchen sink not work for weeks while I dither around trying to figure out what to buy at Home Depot. So in the next few weeks, the internet in the house might go down as well as the kitchen sink. Our productivity might take a dive.

Really, I’m just going on and on about the wireless and the kitchen sink because I think Edda’s back on her crying jag. After a year or so of being so wonderfully and blissfully happy – just laughing and smiling at everything we did – Edda seems to be back to crying for entire afternoons. We try to do for her all the things she loves, Jeremy cooks and feeds her all her favorite things. I think she’s tired and I try to put her to bed all hours of the day. Nat takes her out in the snowy weather for a walk and some fresh air. We set up three screens for her, a TV, an iPhone and and iPad all showing different shows that she loves. We give her Tylenol or Motrin when we’ve run out of ideas. Nothing works. And it’s incredibly sad and frustrating to hear her cry and cry for a long, long time. But then after a few hours, she seems to calm down and be fine. I’m a little resigned that it’s another mood that will be unknowable and unsolvable that will last for months. Jeremy thinks her mood will only last for today and that tomorrow is a new day and maybe it’ll be a great day for Edda.

Dad and his new smart phone.

Dad got a job in Oak Ridge, TN – so he cut his Florida vacation short (leaving my mom with her pals) and came home to pack and see us before he drove to Tennessee. He came over a few times for dinner, we fed him and packed lunches for him. We made fun of his dumb phone. Vince used his phone to talk to my mom. Vince said his favorite phrase in Chinese (he started this year in school) which roughly translates into “I’m sorry, my Chinese is really lame.” to which my mother answered in a torrent of excited and rapid Chinese and then Vince laughs and laughs and says “I’m sorry, my Chinese is really lame.” again.

Dad is going to spend 6 months in a hotel room (an effort to maximize the per diem payout) so he wanted a hotspot for internet connection. We looked into the prices and plans and just decided to get him a smart phone (actually we wiped Jeremy’s cell phone and gave it to him). Now we are getting emails from him declaring “I’m sending you an email from Sonic! I’m sending you an email from my phone!”

Snowed in lunch –

Thursday, when we were all snowed in, we invited the neighbors on both sides over for lunch. Both sets of neighbors moved in after we arrived in 2008 and we’ve been meaning to have them over for a long time.  Since everyone was home with nowhere to go, a Thursday lunch seemed like a good idea. Jeremy made soup from ingredients in the pantry – hatch chili/corn soup and chicken tortilla soup.

Kate, Chris, Sophie, Mike, Alice

Making valentines.

So the snow is coming tonight. Some weather models are forcasting 12-18 inches. Kids are gleeful.  I’m a little winter weary.  I hope we have enough toilet paper.

Nat and the kids made valentines for Edda’s class yesterday afternoon. Vince is a little disappointed that he no longer has parties in middle school – so he wants to go to Edda’s party.

New camera!

Saved my pennies and bought myself a full-frame camera. Such a relief for a 28mm to really be a 28mm – look how close I can get to Vince’s face. I’ve been forever suffering from having lenses that are not wide enough. And – really nice performance at ISO 1250. So many focus points and I don’t yet know how to choose the one I want. I just hope that I didn’t catch the DSLR as they become obsolete. As everyone heads to their cell phone cameras – I go the opposite direction.

Back from Costa Rica

Rena & I just came back from our Costa Rica’s 5-day trip.  It was very good and we enjoyed it very much. With a flourishing tourism, I guess the local people has not benefited from it as they should be.  This is going to be a huge problem in the long run.  The tourism only drives up prices for everything for the locals.

Having said that, probably, Costa Rica is still a better place than those other countries on the other side of our southern border.  In my views, globalization is killing every possible opportunity for upward mobility for most people in the world, including us.  Look, everywhere in the world, rich gets more $$$ and poor gets less necessity. The gap is increasing in such an alarming rate and its slowing down is not in sight – there is no light yet on the other side of the tunnel.

Eliana’s getting married!

Eliana, our 2nd au pair, is back from Colombia and is marrying her American boyfriend on Friday (Valentine’s Day! Very romantic.) We met him for the first time on Sunday at lunch. He’s a nice guy sweet and talkative. Plays a lot of football, yet knows how to put fondant on a layered cake. A man of many talents.

I’m excited to be Eliana’s witness at her wedding on Friday. Actually, I’m honored that I get to go and do this for Eliana – all these girls are like family to me. I wish her a lifetime of happiness and good fortune!